In rural Upatoi, in northeastern Muscogee County, a proposed hyperscale AI data center is suddenly looming over a quiet patch of family history. Within sight of the project site sits a roughly 15-acre cemetery parcel that Debbie Jackson tends, a family plot she says holds about 22 marked graves. Jackson, who learned about the development only in February, now finds herself at the center of a fight as officials draft special zoning rules and neighbors debate whether to stay put, sell, or push the city for stronger protections.
Known as Project Ruby, the data center is being pitched as a four-building hyperscale campus spread across roughly 900 to 987 acres, bundled as a more-than-$5.18 billion investment that could eventually require hundreds of megawatts of power. Public filings and regional notices say the buildout would roll out in phases between 2027 and 2030, with initial power deliveries and infrastructure work starting in the next decade, according to Data Center Dynamics.
Jackson says her husband’s family has held the land since the mid-1800s and that the cemetery includes Civil War-era graves and what she believes may be unmarked burials as well. The scale of the nearby proposal, she adds, has thrown her household finances and long-term plans into limbo. The local Planning Advisory Commission tried to soften the blow, voting 5 to 1 to expand Project Ruby’s proposed buffer from 75 feet to 500 feet, but Jackson calls that step nowhere near enough. Her account, along with those meeting results, was reported by local outlets and summarized by Realtor.com.
Neighbors Push Back as Council Considers Overlay Rules
In March, the fight moved squarely into public view. Dozens of residents packed council chambers and community forums to demand clearer protections, while opponents gathered thousands of signatures on a petition challenging the project. Columbus officials are now drafting a technology overlay district that would set the basic ground rules before any formal rezoning application arrives. Some council members have warned that if the city regulates too aggressively, Project Ruby could simply hop the border and land just across the Talbot County line instead…