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Data Center Watch Report · ZIP 31601

Valdosta

Lowndes

ApprovedZIP 57.5% Blackpop 31,495county 37.2% Black

Land rezoned and ready · Project undisclosed under NDA · Ordinance being drafted · No application filed

Researched: 2026-08-02 · Lead source: Brockovich AI Data Center community map (1 resident report, 2026-05-28) · ZIP demographics: 57.5% Black, pop 31,495 (Census ACS 2023) · County: Lowndes (37.2% Black, 2020 Census) Status: Land rezoned and ready · Project undisclosed under NDA · Ordinance being drafted · No application filed

0. Snapshot

One resident report on the map. Behind it is one of the most instructive fights in Georgia — because in Lowndes County the land was already rezoned before the public knew what for, and the developer's name only came out because a county commissioner said it at a town hall.

The facts that are solid:

  • On July 8, 2025, the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners voted to rezone approximately 719 acres on Coleman Road — case REZ-2025-11 — from C-C (Crossroads Commercial) and CON (Conservation) to M-1 (Light Manufacturing) and CON, with seven conditions attached.
  • Under Lowndes County's Unified Land Development Code, data centers are already permitted in seven zoning districts, including M-1. The rezoning did not approve a data center. It made one a permitted use on 719 acres.
  • The developer is DC BLOX, an AI/data-center infrastructure company. The landowner is Pope Langdale III, a Valdosta lawyer and businessman. Langdale signed a non-disclosure agreement with DC BLOX — keeping details from the community, the county, and the press.
  • County officials have consistently and correctly said that no data center has been proposed, approved, or permitted in Lowndes County.
  • Residents organized as Lowndes Citizens Against Data Centers (LCAD), with retired Valdosta State University professor Dr. Michael Noll as spokesperson. LCAD meets weekly, has packed multiple town halls, drafted its own ordinance, and submitted it to the commission at the end of June 2026.
  • On 2026-07-28, after its regular session, the Board of Commissioners held a data center information session with the room packed shoulder-to-shoulder, and laid out what will go into a county data center ordinance.

The county's stated ordinance direction is, on paper, the strongest in this six-site cluster — closed-loop cooling that may not draw on the county aquifer, wastewater disposal required outside the county, no variances for scaling or expansion, decibel and frequency noise limits with buffer zones, and light-pollution controls including shielding and color temperature. County Manager Paige Dukes said the draft will be published for public review before any vote.

The gap in it: the county did not adopt sinkhole-risk restrictions — and Lowndes County sits on a karst aquifer.

1. The Facility & Where It Sits

ItemFinding
Project nameNone public. Undisclosed under NDA.
CompanyDC BLOX (named publicly by a county official at a February 2026 town hall)
Landowner / local partnerPope Langdale III, Valdosta attorney and businessman; signed an NDA with DC BLOX
Site~719–720 acres on Coleman Road, Lowndes County
RezoningREZ-2025-11, approved 2025-07-08: C-C + CON → M-1 (Light Manufacturing) + CON, with seven conditions
Buildings / sq ft / MWNot found as of 2026-08-02. Nothing filed.
StatusNo application. No permit. No approval. Land is zoned to allow it.
PowerGeorgia Power is conducting a separate site study. County officials stated no residential rate increases are anticipated — that is the county's characterization, not a Georgia Power or PSC commitment.

Conditions attached to REZ-2025-11 (seven in total; those reported): restrictions on vehicle access, and a requirement that a developer cover the cost of infrastructure upgrades if needed. Get the full condition list from the County Clerk — those seven conditions are the only site-specific protections currently binding on that land.

Where it sits. Coleman Road, Lowndes County. The nearest organized neighborhood in the fight is Foxborough, whose residents have been the most vocal — WALB titled its coverage "Backyard Battle: Foxborough community voices concerns over possible data center," and WTXL has reported residents "near Foxborough" pushing back. Distances to individual homes, schools, and churches, and the precise ZIP of the parcel: Not found as of 2026-08-02. The 719 acres are in unincorporated Lowndes County, not inside Valdosta city limits — that is why the Board of Commissioners, not the City Council, holds the zoning power here.

Is it on the Black side of town? ZIP 31601 is 57.5% Black against a county figure of 37.2% — a 20-point gap, the widest ZIP-to-county gap in this six-site cluster. Valdosta the city is majority Black; Lowndes County outside the city is substantially whiter. That is the classic pattern this project documents: a majority-Black city inside a majority-white county, where the county commission — elected county-wide — makes the land-use decisions.

But be precise: the Coleman Road site is in the county, and this report could not confirm that the parcel itself lies within ZIP 31601 or adjacent to majority-Black neighborhoods. What is confirmed is that the water is shared. Valdosta and Lowndes County sit on the same Floridan/karst aquifer system and drain to the same Withlacoochee River. An industrial groundwater user anywhere in the county is a Valdosta issue.

2. Public Hearings & Notices

DateBody / action
2025-06-30Rezoning application for the Coleman Road site heard at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC)
2025-07-08Lowndes County Board of Commissioners approves REZ-2025-11 — ~719 acres, C-C/CON → M-1/CON, seven conditions. Minutes published.
2026-02-17Data centers meeting, Lowndes County — documented by WWALS Watershed Coalition
2026-02 (town hall)Commissioner Langdale reveals DC BLOX is the developer he has been speaking with, but cites the NDA
2026-03-04VSU Spectator: "AI Data Center Sparks Concern Among Local Residents"
2026-03-09County publicly explains its data center prospects (Valdosta Daily Times; WALB)
2026-03-14Open letter to the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners published (Valdosta Daily Times)
2026 (spring)Second town hall on the proposed 720-acre data center
2026-06 (end of month)LCAD submits its own draft ordinance to the commissioners — noise decibel levels, backup generator use, cooling equipment, and more
2026-07-20GPB: "Secrecy around data center project in South GA hasn't stopped neighbors' fight"
2026-07-24WALB: "Backyard Battle: Foxborough community voices concerns over possible data center"
2026-07-28Data center information session immediately following the Board of Commissioners regular session. Room packed. County lays out intended ordinance contents. Video posted by On the LAKE front.
2026-07-30Valdosta Daily Times: "Lowndes County begins conversation on controlling data centers"

County ordinance — what officials said it will contain (2026-07-28):

  • No variance consideration for scaling or expansions
  • Closed-loop water systems required, using external water sources, not the county aquifer
  • Glycol coolant permitted (specified as not PFAS-classified) for system cooling
  • Wastewater disposal mandated outside the county
  • Initial water demand cited at 600,000–1,000,000 gallons, with annual maintenance of 60,000 gallons
  • Strict noise regulations — decibel and frequency limits, with buffer zones
  • Light pollution controls — shielding and color-temperature standards
  • No sinkhole-risk restrictions adopted, despite the county sitting atop a karst aquifer

County Manager Paige Dukes: "As soon as the ordinance is drafted, when it's in draft format, we will share it publicly so that the citizens of our community can go ahead and take a look at it…"

Dr. Michael Noll (LCAD): "No matter where you stand on the issue, Tuesday's meeting was a good start for our community…"

Commissioner-at-Large Bill Slaughter noted that complaints typically involve rising property values, not declining ones.

The next thing to watch is the publication of the draft ordinance. There is no adopted moratorium in Lowndes County — the county's position is that any interested party must wait until the ordinance is finalized. That is a policy stance, not a legal bar, and it is weaker than a moratorium.

3. Power

  • Georgia Power is conducting a site study for the Coleman Road property. County officials stated at the July 28 session that no residential rate increases are anticipated. Treat that as the county's assurance, not a utility or regulatory commitment.
  • Georgia Power, Langdale, and DC BLOX have all been described by GPB as stonewalling on details.
  • Statewide rules: since 2025-02-01, Georgia Power customers expecting 100 MW or more of peak demand must operate under a customized contract, not standard rates, with financial guarantees, terms up to 15 years, minimum monthly payments, and PSC review at least 30 days before signing. That PSC review is a public docket — it is the point at which a secret project becomes visible.
  • The PSC ordered Georgia Power to design rates so residential and small-business customers do not carry generation built mainly for data centers. PSC Public Interest Advocacy staff nonetheless found large industrial customers raise average fuel costs for all other customers by roughly 5–11% per month, and the Commission opened a separate fuel-cost allocation investigation. Environmental groups sued the PSC in March 2026 over the Georgia Power data center expansion; in May 2026 the PSC backed a disputed Georgia Power fuel deal amid data center cost concerns. Next general rate case expected 2028.
  • EMCs serving portions of Lowndes County, new substation plans, and transmission routing: Not found as of 2026-08-02.

Practical step for a Valdosta resident: watch the Georgia PSC docket for a large-load customized contract filing referencing a south Georgia site. Under the PSC's own rule, that filing must come 30 days before signing — which is very likely to be the first public confirmation of what DC BLOX actually intends.

4. Water & Drought — the Floridan aquifer and karst

This is the fight. Valdosta and Lowndes County sit on the Floridan aquifer in a karst landscape — limestone that dissolves, producing sinkholes, springs, and direct, fast connections between the surface and the drinking water below. Contamination and drawdown behave differently in karst than in sand or clay: they move faster and are harder to contain.

What the county says it will require:

  • Closed-loop cooling using external water sources — explicitly not the county aquifer
  • Wastewater disposal outside the county
  • Glycol coolant, specified as not PFAS-classified — and the county says it is collaborating on PFAS safety research
  • Stated water demand: 600,000–1,000,000 gallons initially, 60,000 gallons annually for maintenance

Those provisions, if adopted and enforced, would be among the strongest water protections in any Georgia data center ordinance located in this research. A resident's job is to make sure they survive from talking point to adopted text.

What the county did NOT do: adopt sinkhole-risk restrictions, despite the karst aquifer. That is the identified gap, and it is the thing to raise during the public comment period on the draft.

Watchdog capacity is unusually strong here. The WWALS Watershed Coalition (Suwannee Riverkeeper) has been documenting the rezoning application, meeting agendas, and data center meetings, and On the LAKE front (l-a-k-e.org) posts county meeting videos, agenda packets, and minutes PDFs. Between them, Lowndes County residents have better primary-document access than residents of any other site in this cluster. Use it.

Drought: as of the 2026-07-14 U.S. Drought Monitor reading, about 33% of Georgia (19,381 sq mi) was in active drought and a further 52% (30,877 sq mi) Abnormally Dry (D0). Earlier in 2026 Georgia's D2–D4 coverage was the highest since 2011. South Georgia's classification changes weekly — read the live map (§10).

Serving utilities: the City of Valdosta operates municipal water and sewer within the city; unincorporated Lowndes County is served by county utilities and private wells. The Coleman Road site is in the unincorporated county. Confirm the specific service arrangement with Lowndes County Utilities before accepting any claim about where a project's water would come from.

5. Population & Who Lives Here

  • ZIP 31601: 57.5% Black, population 31,495 (Census ACS 2023, as compiled for this project). Central and south Valdosta.
  • Lowndes County: population 118,251; 37.16% Black (43,946 people identifying as Black or African American alone, non-Hispanic, 2020 Census).
  • The 20-point gap between ZIP and county is the widest in this cluster. Valdosta is a majority-Black city inside a county that is not. Land-use decisions for the unincorporated county — including Coleman Road — are made by a county-wide-elected Board of Commissioners.
  • Valdosta State University is in the city; the student population affects ZIP-level income and poverty statistics, so read those numbers carefully.
  • Poverty and income figures for 31601: pull from data.census.gov (§10). Not independently verified here.

6. Money — Abatements, Incentives, Jobs

  • No abatement, PILOT, or development authority agreement was located. Not found as of 2026-08-02. No project has been formally proposed, so no incentive package is on the public record. The Valdosta-Lowndes County Development Authority would be the body holding any such agreement — ask them directly.
  • No job count has been published. Not found as of 2026-08-02. Benchmark: Columbus's 865-acre, $5B+ project projects 195 permanent jobs.
  • No investment figure has been published for the Coleman Road project.
  • Georgia's statewide sales-and-use tax exemption for high-technology data center equipment applies to qualifying projects regardless of local negotiation.
  • The NDA is the money story. A private landowner signed a confidentiality agreement with a developer, and the county rezoned 719 acres to a classification that permits data centers, while telling residents no data center had been proposed. Both statements were true. That combination is how a project can be effectively decided before it is ever publicly announced.

7. Community Reaction & News Coverage

Lowndes County has, by a distance, the best-documented and most technically capable resident opposition in this cluster.

  • Lowndes Citizens Against Data Centers (LCAD) — meets weekly; shows up at council and commission meetings; drafted and submitted its own ordinance to commissioners at the end of June 2026, addressing noise decibel levels, backup generator use, and cooling equipment. Spokesperson: Dr. Michael Noll, retired Valdosta State University professor.
  • WWALS Watershed Coalition / Suwannee Riverkeeper — publishes the rezoning application documents, meeting notices, and analysis at wwals.net.
  • On the LAKE front (l-a-k-e.org) — posts county commission agenda packets, minutes PDFs, and video of the July 28, 2026 data center session.
  • A Change.org petition, "Block the DC Blox Hyperscale Data Center Campus in Valdosta Before It Is Too Late," is circulating.
  • Foxborough residents are the neighborhood core of the opposition.
  • An open letter to the Board of Commissioners was published in the Valdosta Daily Times on 2026-03-14.
  • Two town halls have been held on the 720-acre proposal, plus the county's own July 28 information session.
  • GPB's framing on 2026-07-20 — that secrecy has not stopped the neighbors — is accurate: LCAD organized effectively without knowing the project's specifications.

Outlets covering this: Valdosta Daily Times, WALB, WCTV, WTXL, Georgia Public Broadcasting, the VSU Spectator, plus the two citizen-documentation sites above.

8. Find Out For Yourself

Lowndes County Board of Commissioners — the government that decides Coleman Road 327 N. Ashley Street, Valdosta, GA 31601 (Administration Building; Clerk on the 3rd floor) County Clerk: Belinda Lovern — (229) 671-2442 County Clerk's Office general: (229) 671-2400 · Records email: bocrecords@lowndescounty.com Website: https://www.lowndescounty.com

Meeting agendas are posted in the lobby of the Administration Building, 327 N. Ashley St., 1st Floor, Valdosta, GA 31601, as required. The county also runs a "Notify Me" subscription — register for it: you will receive meeting agendas and approved minutes as soon as they are published. That is the single highest-value five minutes a Lowndes County resident can spend. Commissioner named in this record: Bill Slaughter, Commissioner-at-Large. County Manager: Paige Dukes.

Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) — the body that heard the Coleman Road rezoning on 2025-06-30 and that will hear any future data center application. Ask the County Clerk for its meeting schedule and agenda posting location.

City of Valdosta — the city government; does not control the unincorporated Coleman Road site, but does control city water, sewer, and city-limits zoning 216 E. Central Avenue, Valdosta, GA 31601 · (229) 242-2600 City Clerk: Teresa Bolden — (229) 259-3503 — tbolden@valdostacity.com Mayor: Scott James Matheson · Council/Manager government, seven council members City Council meets the first and third Thursday following the first Sunday of the month (subject to holiday adjustment). All meetings open to the public.

Statutory legal notices: Georgia Public Notice — https://www.georgiapublicnotice.com — search Lowndes County. Rezoning and ordinance hearings must be advertised here.

Utility rate proceedings — and the likeliest place the secret project becomes public: Georgia Public Service Commission — https://psc.ga.gov. Watch for a large-load customized contract filing; the PSC rule requires review 30 days before signing.

Citizen document archives (use these — they are excellent):

Resident group: Lowndes Citizens Against Data Centers (LCAD) — spokesperson Dr. Michael Noll. Meets weekly. Contact details were not published in the coverage located; reach them through WWALS, the Valdosta Daily Times, or by attending a commission meeting. Petition: https://www.change.org/p/block-the-dc-blox-hyperscale-data-center-campus-in-valdosta-before-it-is-too-late

Local news tip lines:

Open-records requests worth filing (O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 et seq.), to the Lowndes County Clerk (bocrecords@lowndescounty.com):

  1. The complete REZ-2025-11 file: application, staff report, GLPC recommendation, and the full text of all seven conditions.
  2. The draft data center ordinance in its current form, plus the LCAD-submitted draft received in June 2026.
  3. All correspondence between the county and DC BLOX, Pope Langdale III, or their representatives regarding the Coleman Road property.
  4. Any Georgia Power site study, load study, or utility correspondence concerning the Coleman Road property.
  5. Any water or sewer capacity inquiry, will-serve request, or infrastructure cost estimate tied to the site.

Note: an NDA between two private parties does not shield records in the possession of a government body. If the county has it, it is presumptively public.

9. If You're Thinking About Moving Here

Research only. Not legal, financial, real estate, or investment advice. Verify with §10 and your own professionals.

Understand what has and has not happened. Nothing has been approved. But 719 acres on Coleman Road are already zoned M-1, and under the county's existing Unified Land Development Code, data centers are a permitted use in M-1. That means a future project may not need a rezoning at all — it may need only a permit. The public hearing you would expect to get may already have happened, in July 2025, before anyone said the words "data center."

What is genuinely favorable:

  • The county's stated ordinance direction — closed-loop cooling not drawing on the county aquifer, wastewater exported outside the county, no variances, decibel-and-frequency noise limits, light shielding — is the most protective set of provisions found anywhere in this six-site cluster.
  • Paige Dukes has committed to publishing the draft publicly before a vote. Hold the county to that.
  • The civic infrastructure here is unusually strong. LCAD, WWALS, and On the LAKE front together produce better primary-document access than most Georgia counties have. You will not be researching alone.
  • Population complaints about rising property values, per Commissioner Slaughter, rather than collapsing ones.

What is genuinely unresolved:

  • No moratorium. The county's "wait until the ordinance is done" position is a stance, not a legal bar. Compare Albany, 100 miles west, which adopted a 12-month moratorium.
  • Karst. Lowndes County sits on a karst aquifer and the county has explicitly not adopted sinkhole-risk restrictions. In karst, groundwater moves fast and unpredictably; a contaminant or a drawdown does not stay where you put it.
  • The NDA. You cannot evaluate a project whose size, water demand, megawatts, and building count are secret. Every number in §1 is Not found as of 2026-08-02 for exactly that reason.
  • The ordinance is not adopted. Everything protective described above is currently a statement at a July 28 meeting. Until it is adopted text, it protects no one.
  • Power costs. Georgia's PSC has an open investigation into whether large industrial loads are shifting fuel costs onto residential customers by 5–11% a month. The county's "no residential rate increases anticipated" is not a regulator's finding.

Land and housing: documented land-price movement in 31601 attributable to the data center: Not found as of 2026-08-02. Commissioner Slaughter's remark about rising values is anecdotal and county-wide.

Before you buy anywhere in Lowndes County:

  1. Pull the zoning of the parcel and of everything within a mile. Ask specifically whether any nearby parcel is in one of the seven districts where data centers are already permitted by right. That question is more important here than "is anything proposed nearby."
  2. Register for the county's Notify Me agenda alerts and set a Georgia Public Notice alert for Lowndes County.
  3. Read the July 8, 2025 minutes PDF (linked in §8) and the seven conditions on REZ-2025-11.
  4. If you are on a private well anywhere in the county, get a dated baseline water test now, before construction, and keep the results.
  5. Ask the Lowndes County Clerk, in writing, when the draft ordinance will be published and how long the public comment period will be.

10. Sources

All URLs accessed 2026-08-02 unless noted.

Rezoning & county process

Developer, NDA, opposition

Power & PSC

Water & drought

Demographics

Contacts & meetings

Lead source

Lead source: resident reports on the Brockovich AI Data Center community map, then independently verified against public records. Research, not legal, financial, real-estate, or investment advice. Some resident-reported pins remain uncorroborated and are labeled as such above.