Jackie Malcom lives less than a quarter mile from where a 2 million square foot data center project was going to be built in Ellenwood, Georgia, a majority-Black community in DeKalb County.
Malcom, 62, opposed the project because she and her neighbors are already dealing with poor air quality as pollution from surrounding industry, including Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, have been negatively affecting the community’s health.
As an organizer with the DeKalb Citizens Coalition, a group fighting against data center development in the county, Malcom said she didn’t want to add the environmental impacts from a data center into her neighborhood.
“We are dealing with too much. We can’t even sit outside from sniffing out toxins. … If I sit outside too long, then my sinuses begin to act up,” Malcom said. “But my neighbors that suffer from asthma … they can’t sit outside without a mask.”
On Aug. 13, after almost a year of community outcry, the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners rejected plans to build the data center in the southern part of the county. Residents like Malcom had voiced concerns around environmental burdens the project could bring to the majority-Black community.
The project, proposed by PCC-DeKalb LLC, was set to be on a 95-acre site and included an electric substation and three two-story buildings. The company was seeking a special land use permit from the county, which the Department of Planning previously recommended to deny.
The rejection of the project comes at a time when communities throughout the state and across the country have started to oppose large data center developments due to environmental impacts like massive energy and water use. The continuous development of these tech projects in Georgia has led Atlanta to become one of the fastest-growing destinations for data centers in the country.
Science for Georgia, an advocacy group, estimated constructed and planned data centers in the state in 2025 required the same amount of energy that it takes to power around 3.9 million homes.
The organization also estimated it would require around 27 billion gallons of water a year to operate all of the projects, which they said is enough water to sustain the entire city of Athens, Georgia, for five years.
Gina Mangham, another organizer with the DeKalb Citizens Coalition, said she feared the burden the project could have on the county’s aging water infrastructure.
“We already have a strained water system in DeKalb County. We have both capacity issues as well as we have a lot of sewage overspills. We’ve had a lot of water main breaks,” Mangham said. “When you start talking about 2 million square feet, this is where you have these massive requirements and strain on our natural resources.”
Prior to the Ellenwood vote, county commissioners in June rejected legislation aimed at regulating data centers in the county. Community members pushed back over how the rules would be enforced and sought stronger regulations.
While the county can’t process any new data center applications until March 30, 2027, the fight is far from over.
DeKalb is now currently facing a lawsuit from companies who claim the county’s moratorium is illegal. According to Decaturish, Shadowbox Studios, owned by Atlanta movie executive Ryan Millsap, and an affiliated real estate company are suing to build a data center in the southern part of the county.
The county’s moratorium was put in place in July 2025. At the time, county commissioners said they wanted time to lay out regulations for data center development. Since then, the commissioners have extended the moratorium several times.
The lawsuit argues that since the county voted to deny the proposed regulations in June, the moratorium is banning data centers in the county “without any rational basis.”
DeKalb County did not immediately respond to Capital B Atlanta’s request for comment.
Mangham said she’s hoping that the county will fight the lawsuit.
“We are happy that the BOC finally denied the Ellenwood data center … something they should have done months ago. But now, if the BOC and the administration are truly committed to DeKalb residents, they need to defend the Shadowbox lawsuit,” Mangham said.
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