Cherokee County Extends Its Data Center Moratorium to 180 Days After a Packed Public Hearing

On Tuesday, August 18, 2026, the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to extend the county's data center moratorium by 180 days. Eleven residents signed up to speak. Not one spoke in favor of data center development in Cherokee County. Several asked the board to go further than the moratorium and ban them outright.

The vote came after roughly thirty minutes of public comment in a room that was full enough that Chairman Harry Johnston opened the meeting by thanking people for their patience.

What the board actually adopted

Community Development Director Brantley Day introduced the item. The resolution before the board enacted a 180 day moratorium on the acceptance of applications for permits, land disturbance, land use amendments, rezoning, conditional use permits, variances, and all public hearing applications related to data centers. It follows the 30 day moratorium the board enacted last month.

Day told commissioners the extension would "provide the time to give staff the opportunity to conduct research, be able to get more public input on potential standards and ordinances and regulations that you may want to enact once the moratorium has ended." He said the 180 days would run through mid February, and that the board could extend it or end it early, and could adopt regulations at any point during that window.

Commissioner Will Cagle made the motion. Commissioner Richard Weatherby seconded. It passed unanimously.

One important clarification came from the dais before the vote. The resolution states the county does not intend to disturb any previously approved data center or any that has applied for development review. A commissioner confirmed for the record that there are none in either category. "None have applied," he said. "We don't have any in process, and we don't have any that have been approved." The room applauded.

What residents said

Sharon Valenti of Summerwalk spoke first and led with noise. She pointed out that facilities run cooling systems and backup generators around the clock, and that county ordinances were never written for that. "Most noise ordinances, including ours, were written for block parties and barking dogs, not continuous industrial sound," she said. "So once the facility is built, there's often nothing on the books making it quiet down."

She connected the constant noise to measurable health effects, citing published research linking ongoing exposure to elevated blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and disrupted sleep. She also raised property values and the class action lawsuits already filed in multiple states over loss of value and loss of enjoyment near these facilities. On the revenue argument, she was direct: "I understand the argument for tax revenue. It's real, and I won't pretend otherwise." Her closing ask was that the county use the moratorium "to say no."

Roy Taylor of Canton thanked the board for initiating the moratorium and noted how recently the county had assumed this was not its problem. When he called Planning and Zoning about a year ago, he said, "there were no such plans, and assumptions were being made that you didn't need to do it because who would do one here in Cherokee County? We're too hilly, we're too whatever. But it is an issue."

Taylor made two asks. First, extend the timeframe past the state legislative session, because he counts eight data center bills coming up, and the county's ordinance should be able to adapt to whatever comes out of that session. Second, hold citizen input sessions early in the drafting process rather than presenting finished proposals for reaction. He noted the strong turnout at the previous week's meeting despite very short notice.

Jason Brown of Ball Ground introduced himself as a thermal mechanical engineer with fourteen years in failure analysis and critical systems. He talked about water. He described a data center company suing over Colorado River water that serves 40 million people, and a farm in Posey, Indiana where he said the buyers told the owner the land would never grow anything again.

Brown made a point that got at a real distinction: there are two kinds of facilities. "I got a colleague, he's in design and insulation up north. He's got data centers running right now 14, 15 years, don't use a drop of water. They support their own power. So there's 2 types." He wants the second type if any come at all.

Then he brought it home to property. "I've watched my property flip in value. That's my nest egg when I grow old." He said he had talked with forty or fifty men in his subdivision who feel the same way. "They've invested deep into their real estate. That's their nest egg. It's all we got. We got calluses on our hands. We work for that property."

Nicole Fornes of Canton named names. She spoke about Prime Group Holdings, the firm behind conversions of Prime Storage facilities into data centers, which she said is "hawking their plan in Holly Springs and were successful in Marietta." She told the board the company cannot be trusted, citing SEC findings of materially misleading statements about the company and its operations.

Her framing of the Marietta case is worth repeating, because it is the one most people here will recognize: "What is being done in Marietta is not about one building. It is a template for their company and future plans for those just like it." She closed by listing the tactics she says these companies use, including intimidation, non disclosure agreements, lawsuits, and rushed building commencement without active permits.

Leslie Cushman yielded her time, saying her comments had already been covered.

Steve Rogers supported the moratorium and added the ordinance argument. Having looked into where data centers have gone badly, he said, the pattern is clear: "where they've really gone sideways and gone really bad is where communities didn't have ordinances in place."

Martha Jean Schindler of Woodstock, founder of North Georgia Community Action Network, presented a consolidated list of questions and requests gathered at NGA CAN's data center town hall, limited to points other speakers had not already raised. Her asks were:

• Pass the 180 day moratorium and extend it.

• Require a special use permit for any data center at any scale.

• Put the burden of proof on the applicant to show benefit to the people who actually live here, cradle to grave, for the full life of the facility and after it goes dark. "Not just projections, but proof," she said, "because the people who build these don't live in them, on them, around them, or near them."

• Account for opportunity cost. "Land given to a data center is land unavailable to an employer who would hire a real number of people in lasting jobs. Our land is our most valuable resource, and it should not be gutted in a money grab for out of state investors for technology that is likely to change drastically."

• Restrict siting to heavy industrial with setbacks that account for it, measure noise at the property line with mandatory ongoing testing, and regulate backup generators specifically, including how often and how long they may run. A hyperscale site can carry 20 to 30 diesel units.

• Fold in the county's existing dark sky rules.

• Address impervious surface and parking mandates. "A facility with 15 employees, most of which wouldn't be there all at once, should not be paving hundreds of acres for cars that never arrive."

• Bring in independent technical review before the ordinance is finalized, and ask the cities to match the county's timeline.

She also flagged that Prime Group already owns property on Rabbit Hill Road in Holly Springs. "So the land is already here and already zoned and already built."

Liev Valeo Black of Canton raised process and timing. She pointed to the recent Woodstock resolution involving data sharing with an AI company, which she said "felt very rushed." She was glad it slowed down and concerned that it nearly did not. "We're making very big decisions here," she said. "We gotta wear our big pants, said as a mother."

Marshall Watson of Anthony Place, whose property backs up to Allatoona, drew applause with his opening: "I am here in favor of the 180 day moratorium. In fact, I think there should be a permanent ban on data centers in this county."

Watson works in technology consulting and advises large corporations on AI adoption, and described himself as "vehemently anti AI in my personal life." He laid out the economics: roughly 1.5 trillion dollars spent by the major players, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, OpenAI, and others, with no profit to show for it. "This is a long game for them," he said. "They're spending so much money hoping that down the line, they're going to reap windfall profits. And the way they do that is by getting these sweetheart deals, massive tax breaks and cheap land."

He then went after the secrecy. "It's all done under NDA. Why are these deals being made in secret?" He invoked "democracy dies in darkness" and asked the board a question that deserves an answer: "If we don't know how these deals are being made, we don't know the stipulations, how can we as an informed electorate help you make those decisions?"

On water, he noted that an average data center, not a hyperscaler, can use up to 5 million gallons a day, roughly what 16,000 American households use. On power, he said residents are "already being bent over the barrel by Georgia Power, and that's just gonna get worse." His conclusion: "It's not an 180 day moratorium. It's a permanent ban, because we don't need these here. We don't need these anywhere near our communities."

Ana Linares-Creme proposed a statewide moratorium with Cherokee County setting the precedent. Citing Georgia Public Broadcasting, she said there are 81 data centers currently proposed in Georgia, and only 25 of them have released their power generation requirements. GPB's analysis of the resulting statewide shortfall, she said, runs somewhere between 29 and 58 gigawatts of capacity, against roughly 15 gigawatts that Georgia Power currently produces for the entire state. "With numbers like these," she said, "rolling blackouts are only inevitable."

She also turned and spoke to the audience, which is the part that stayed with a lot of people in that room: "You are not an obstacle to economic development. You are not something to be managed after the deal has already been made. Your government is meant to work for you, and your elected officials work for you."

Michael O'Connor opened by drawing a line most speakers had not. "I am not anti development. I'm not anti data center. I am anti data center here." Then the sentence that summed up the entire evening: "We all use it, but we don't have to be the ones to build it."

His asks for the study period were specific and practical: a property value study within a two mile radius and along the tract to the nearest large piece of power infrastructure, an eminent domain study to determine how much land the county might have to take from people, and a clear definition of what counts as a data center so the county does not accidentally shut out a company building a 2,000 square foot server room for its own internal operations. He also asked for a permanent ban on data centers in single family homes and older multifamily dwellings, a practice he said is starting to appear around the country where houses are gutted and converted.

Julie Key spoke last and framed her comments around uncertainty. "I am not a scientist. I am just a substitute teacher and a social studies teacher who never found work, and an upholsterer's daughter." Her point was that the county has time to watch what happens elsewhere before committing. She wants confirmation on radiation impact, on stream temperatures, on noise. And she named the obvious problem with checking any of it casually: "I know it says that when I Google that there's no radiation impact, but that's also coming from an AI search."

The chairman's response

Chairman Johnston closed the hearing and gave a candid statement of where he stands. He does not feel threatened by data centers here, he said, because "they're not very interested in us. We don't really have the flat land that they need in large quantities. We're not very interested in them." He described the relationship plainly: "It's not a good marriage, them and us. I agree with, I think, most of you on that."

He also made the counterargument himself, which is worth documenting because it is the argument residents will hear from other jurisdictions for the next several years. He described Fayette County, which set aside 1,000 acres it considered suitable and now has 14 data centers lined up. Those 14 facilities, he said, will pay one and a half times as much local property tax as the entire rest of Fayette County combined, allowing that county to cut its property tax rate dramatically.

His conclusion, after some back and forth with the audience about what exactly he meant, was this: "I'd rather pay the higher property taxes than have the data center." The room applauded. He added a caution: "I'd just rather you not come back in 10 years and say, hey, did you see that Fayette County's got such low property tax rates? Why are yours higher here?"

That tradeoff is going to be the central argument in this county for the next decade. Residents should be ready for it.

What happens next

The moratorium buys six months. It does not write an ordinance. Everything that matters now happens in the research and drafting phase, and Roy Taylor was right to ask that citizen input come at the beginning of that process rather than at the end of it.

Three things to watch:

1. The drafting timeline. Staff is in the research phase now. Ask for input sessions to be scheduled early and advertised properly.

2. The cities. Cherokee County's moratorium covers unincorporated Cherokee County only. Holly Springs, Woodstock, Canton, and Ball Ground each set their own zoning. Prime Group already owns the Rabbit Hill Road property in Holly Springs. A strong county ordinance with no matching city ordinance leaves the door wide open.

3. The legislature. Eight data center bills are expected in the upcoming session. What the state does will shape what the county is allowed to do.

4. If you spoke Tuesday night, thank you. If you did not, the September 15 meeting and the drafting process ahead are both open to you.

Everything Else the Board Did on August 18

The data center hearing was the first of six public hearings that night, and the meeting ran roughly three hours. Here is the rest of it, in order.

Agenda changes

The board amended the agenda five times before doing anything else. Two items came off: Item 8.5, which was withdrawn, and Item 11.4. Three items were added: Item 10.3, a request to hear an appeal of a Zoning Board of Appeals decision, Item 6.2, an appointment to the county’s new audit committee, and Item 6.3, a moratorium on apartment development. The last two were not on the printed agenda at all. All five amendments passed unanimously.

Worth noting for anyone tracking this board: two of the night’s more consequential actions, including a development moratorium, arrived as same night additions.

Youth Sports Champions Day

The board proclaimed Tuesday, August 18, 2026 as Youth Sports Champions Day, honoring three state championship teams: the Canton Baseball 5U Stingers, who finished 19 and 1 and won the Braves Country World Series and the Chris Sale Gold Bracket State Championship, the Canton Baseball 7U Stingers, who finished 21 and 3 and won the Braves Country State Championship, and the Cherokee County 10U Girls Flag Football All Stars, who won the GRPA state title.

Board of Ethics vacancy

Chairman Johnston announced a vacancy on the county Board of Ethics created by a resignation. The unexpired term runs through 2030, roughly three years. No names have been brought forward. He described the qualifications he is looking for: “somebody who’s ethically strong, who can figure out the difference between a political attack and a meaningful ethical charge and can sort through that and take the appropriate actions.”

This is an open seat on the body that oversees the commissioners themselves, their appointees, and senior county employees. If you know someone qualified, the board is actively asking.

Audit committee filled

The county’s new chief financial officer proposed creating an internal audit committee to review accounting controls. The board appointed Lewis Cline, a retired banker from the Waleska area, as the fifth and final member. The committee also includes the chairman, the vice chair (currently Commissioner Cagle), Chief Solicitor Todd Hayes, and citizen appointee Mark Fernandez. An organizational meeting is expected within two weeks.

A 30 day apartment moratorium, added the same night

Commissioner Weatherby moved a 30 day moratorium on approving any apartment, multifamily, or rental development in the RM10 through RM16 zoning classifications. It covers rezonings and permits both, including building and land disturbance permits. His stated purpose was to gather data on “how much county services these units use as opposed to regular normal subdivisions.”

A commissioner confirmed that nothing already in the pipeline is affected. The motion passed unanimously, and a public hearing on a longer term moratorium is set for September 15.

Public Hearing: TJDJ Enterprises rezoning, Case 26-06-011, approved 4 to 1

This was the 3.944 acre rezoning at 14071 Cumming Highway, on the far east side of Highway 20 between the Holbrook Campground intersection and the Forsyth County line, from general commercial to light industrial. The applicant also requested a concurrent variance reducing the required buffer between the light industrial and general commercial portions from 30 feet to zero. The Planning Commission recommended denial on June 2, on the grounds that light industrial is not supported by the county’s future development map for this area.

Martha Jean Schindler spoke in opposition, arguing the variance fails the county’s own standard under Sections 10.5 and 10.6, which require conditions peculiar to the property arising from its size, shape, or topography. Her core argument: “No boundary exists until this board creates one, and the buffer is triggered by the applicant’s own choice to rezone a portion rather than the whole. And that is a self created hardship. And if you grant it, any other applicant can draw a line and ask you to erase the consequence.”

She also flagged that the site plan designates the retained frontage for a future restaurant, office, or retail use, meaning that when that frontage sells, “you have a 0 foot buffer between a light industrial district and commercially zoned property under separate ownership, and nothing in the record binds the new owner.” She raised the internal contradiction between the application’s claim that no reasonable use exists under any other classification and the applicant’s own fact sheet listing the current use as commercial, the absence of sewer and an unstudied septic and drainage question, and the fact that an unconditioned light industrial rezoning approves the district rather than the applicant, so every permitted use in that district travels with the land.

Commissioner Cagle moved approval anyway, arguing the corridor needs flex space: “We’ve got surveyors, electricians, HVAC contractors that need flex space. They can’t operate in GC under our current zoning. So until we change that, there’s really not much we can do.”

The approval came loaded with conditions, several added live from the dais: an enhanced buffer developed with the county arborist so the building is barely visible or not visible at all year round, a six foot fence on three sides, no loading docks, restricted hours of operation, minimal outside storage, no landscape supply use, and a prohibition on companies producing noxious fumes. Commissioners also specifically confirmed that data centers appear on the prohibited use list and directed that they be added if they were not. The applicant’s attorney confirmed the data center prohibition travels with the zoning.

Chairman Johnston cast the lone no vote. The motion passed 4 to 1.

Public Hearing: masonry conditions on Collett Drive, approved unanimously

A modification to conditions from a 2006 rezoning at the north end of Collett Drive where it meets East Cherokee Drive, near the Manor at Mill Creek and Haley Farm. The site has 10 home sites, the smallest of which is about an acre and a half.

The original condition required front elevations to be primarily brick, stone, or hard stucco with no more than 30 percent cementitious siding or cedar shake. Staff noted that 70 percent brick front facades are not what gets built anymore and that styles have shifted toward a masonry base with siding above.

Applicant representative Kyle Lynn described it as a simple request to move the masonry requirement from the front of the homes to the sides, “to hide the exposed foundations on the sides of the homes and create a more elevated look.”

The board went further than what was proposed. The approved condition requires a water table of natural brick or stone up to the bottom of the lowest first floor windowsill on all four sides of the structure, with the remaining exterior in cementitious siding or cedar shake. Stucco and vinyl are out. Unanimous.

Public Hearing: BridgeMill townhome square footage reduction, DENIED

This one drew the largest opposition turnout of the night after the data center hearing, and the residents won.

Jeff Russbridge, representing Street Side Company LLC, asked to modify condition 12 of a 2024 rezoning (Case 24-10-021) to reduce the minimum heated square footage per townhome unit from 2,700 to 2,200. The 73 unit development sits on Bells Ferry Road between Sixes Road and Ridge Road, next to the Overlook at Sixes. Commissioner Weatherby recused himself and stepped down from the dais.

Russbridge argued the market has changed, that lending rates and prices have made the original number unworkable for builders, that even at 2,200 square feet the price point would land around 500,000 to 600,000 dollars, and that the density cap of four units per acre, the 10 percent rental cap, and the architectural comparability condition all remain in place regardless. In rebuttal he pushed back on the property value premise directly: “There is nothing in the nature of reducing the square footage of these homes by 500 square feet that is going to affect the value of anybody else’s home.”

Residents were not persuaded.

Mark Pretorius of the Falls of Cherokee spoke for Safe Sixes, a coalition of 12 subdivisions along the Sixes Road corridor. “We vehemently oppose this change,” he said, calling it “a further erosion of our property values.” He was blunt about who bears the outcome: “These developers that come in, and this is an Atlanta based developer, wants to come in, make 5 million dollars, and he doesn’t gotta live with it, and they never do.” He promised the board this fight repeats: “You’re gonna hear us come back again and again and again.”

Chanel, a 26 year BridgeMill resident whose property backs directly onto the site, said she would see the outcome every day. “Townhouses have no business being there.”

Sandra Harris of 8600 Bells Ferry Road bought her first home in 2024 at age 54. She described what the development takes from her: “They have come in and coerced my elderly neighbors into selling their property, so all of that is gone. Their road is going to be right against my property. My wildlife is gone. My sanctuary in my backyard is gone. My property value goes down.” Her closing line landed hard: “If they can’t build the homes, that’s not my problem. I have to have a home to live in.”

Tom Teague of BridgeMill laid out comparables. The Overlook at Sixes averages 675,000 dollars at 3,160 square feet. Heron Point averages 822,000 dollars at 4,150 square feet. A 19 percent cut from 2,700 to 2,200, he argued, widens the gap further. He asked the board to “help stop the plop of boxes on Bells Ferry Road and Sixes Road corridor.”

Vince Lineman called it what most people in the room were thinking: “What I think you’re looking at here is a bait and switch. They came in, they agreed to this. They’ve gotten some buy in with the community because they were comparing them to the neighboring townhomes, but now dropping them this level of square footage, it’s not even a compare.”

Deborah Frieden of the Sixes community made the precedent argument: “When they come in and they ask for reductions and exceptions, it sets the tone for other developers that we’re gonna be dealing with in the future.”

Mark Juday, who actually lives in one of the Overlook townhomes, added that architectural comparability is not just paint color. “Size matters too.”

Commissioner Carter moved denial, noting that the 2,700 square foot figure had been proffered by the developer in 2024, not imposed by the county. The motion to deny passed 4 to 0 with Weatherby abstaining.

That distinction is the takeaway. The applicant offered the number to win approval, then came back to remove it. The board said no. Residents should note that the record of who proffered what, and when, is what carried this.

Public Hearing: AG5 rural residential subdivision ordinance, tabled to September 1

Community Development Director Brantley Day presented the current draft of AG5, a proposed rural residential subdivision type developed with Kimley-Horn since the spring. It is not a new zoning district. It would be a permitted use within existing AG and R80 zoning, offering relaxed standards in exchange for very low density.

The draft has moved considerably. It went from a countywide new zoning district with a flat five acre minimum to a permitted use possibly limited to District 1, with an average of five acres per easement and a two acre minimum lot, up to 25 lots on one access easement, a maximum 25 percent disturbed area per lot, private streets potentially including gravel or chip and tar surfaces, exemption from the tree ordinance, and stormwater requirements focused on containment rather than treatment.

Ursula Cox was the only speaker, and her comments deserve attention from anyone who cares about zoning process in this county. She supports the concept and said its time has come. Her objection is to the administrative variance provisions built into the draft: “If you’re gonna have a variance, you have it before you guys or the ZBA. That shouldn’t hold you up.” She asked how the ordinance’s administrative approval path reconciles with the Zoning Procedures Law at OCGA 36-66, noting that the draft seems to say a public hearing is unnecessary in one place and necessary in another. She also questioned why one class of applicant would receive less administrative oversight than everyone else: “Why exempt a developer applicant from due process or specify advantages for one group with zoning?”

Chairman Johnston conceded her main point on the record: “It does strike me that the administrative variance paragraph is pretty broad. I see your point there.” Commissioner Cagle asked staff directly to follow up with her.

Cagle moved to table to September 1 rather than September 15, saying people have been waiting on this option. Johnston seconded and the board agreed, with the understanding that if it is not ready, it gets tabled again.

Public Hearing: masonry mailboxes, approved 4 to 0

Chief Traffic Engineer Brent Buchanan presented a revision to Section 5.13 of the zoning ordinance. Since 1999 the county has flatly prohibited masonry and brick mailbox structures in county right of way, with a 2001 amendment grandfathering those already in place. The revision creates exemptions for interior subdivision streets posted at 25 miles per hour or less, and for other county roads at 25 or less with written approval from the transportation department on a case by case basis. It also gives the county authority to remove nonconforming structures, with a replacement provided.

Brian Luby of Mark Trail, who brought the issue to Commissioner Carter, supported the change but raised a gap: he lives at the end of a dead end street off another dead end street, in no subdivision, with no posted speed limit, and it is not clear the exemptions reach him. Johnston agreed that situation “might meet the spirit and intent of what we’re trying to do here, even if it didn’t meet the letter.”

Commissioner Cagle abstained because his business builds masonry structures including mailboxes. The ordinance passed 4 to 0.

General public comment

Three residents spoke during the general comment period after the hearings closed.

Ursula Cox returned to thank the board for funding the animal shelter’s low cost spay and neuter clinic. She is a client. She had not had an animal fixed in 14 years because of cost, and this ran 100 dollars. Slots for the following day were full and September 16 was filling up. “It’s doing a lot of good,” she said. “Feel free to do it again.”

Thomas Weaver of 131 Old Marietta Road followed up on earlier comments about county population and statutory salary obligations. A preliminary Atlanta Regional Commission estimate puts Cherokee County above 300,000 residents. Several sections of Georgia code tie mandatory minimum salaries for elected officials to population, and Weaver reminded the board that as the number rises, so does that obligation. He noted the underlying code appears to require those estimates come from the Census Bureau or the Department of Community Affairs rather than from ARC. Johnston said he had thought of Weaver’s comment when he heard the ARC numbers announced, and agreed it is worth researching when the trigger actually applies.

Destiny LaBassiere delivered the sharpest comment of the night, and it is the one NGA CAN readers should pay closest attention to.

LaBassiere served Cherokee County for 13 years as a firefighter and paramedic. She accepted Firefighter of the Year twice, Paramedic of the Year, and a Community Service Award in that same room. She served as an explorer advisor, court liaison, educator, paramedic preceptor, department videographer, and on the hiring and accreditation committees.

She came to the podium to talk about the cost of public records. She requested records from the department she spent 13 years serving. The estimate she received was nearly 10,000 dollars.

“If it can happen to me after 13 years of serving this county,” she said, “it can happen to anyone in this room or this county.”

She did not come to the board first. She attempted the Georgia Attorney General’s Open Government Mediation Program, believing this could be solved collaboratively. She was recently notified mediation would not move forward. The only remaining step is Superior Court here in Cherokee County.

Her question to the board: “If a citizen cannot realistically afford the cost of obtaining public records, how is that meaningfully different from denying access altogether?”

And her framing of the stakes: “It’s about whether the rights guaranteed to every citizen remain rights in practice or become privileges reserved for those who can afford them.”

She closed by asking the county to meet the standard it expected from her. “Public trust is not earned by words, it’s earned by transparency.”

Anyone in this county who has filed an open records request, or who is thinking about filing one, should understand what a five figure fee estimate does. It ends the request. It is not a denial on the record, so there is nothing clean to appeal, and the burden shifts entirely to the requester to fund litigation just to find out how their own government operates. This is a structural problem, not a one time dispute, and it deserves follow up.

Planning and zoning items

Holly Springs annexation, objection sent. The proposal covers wooded parcels abutting River Park Boulevard, including an undeveloped lot in the Hunters Ridge subdivision. The site borders both Holly Springs and Woodstock and sits in both cities’ growth boundaries. Staff identified a contiguity problem: the annexation depends on parcels that Holly Springs annexed in April 2020 but never properly filed, which will return to unincorporated Cherokee County in January under House Bill 1029.

Commissioner Carter moved that the county’s response letter lead with a request that Holly Springs not accept the annexation, on the grounds that contiguity depends on two parcels leaving the city limits January 1. He also asked the letter to request an enhanced 40 foot buffer along the three residential parcels on Misty Hollow Way, relocation of the proposed dumpster, and attention to the drive through flow and menu board placement against the neighborhood. Unanimous.

Chairman Johnston added context for the record: these parcels are examples of what may have been inadvertent de annexations under the new law, the county has not found a way forward with Holly Springs, and it is unclear how they will ultimately be resolved.

Ball Ground annexation, no objection. Georgia Power agreed to annex a two acre parcel on Ball Ground Highway to eliminate an unincorporated island created by a previous annexation request. Georgia Power will also seek rezoning from R80 to light industrial. No development is proposed and current use continues. Ball Ground’s public hearing is October 8, with a council decision November 12. The board voted unanimously to respond with no objection.

ZBA tree ordinance appeal, tabled to September 15. An appeal by Parkshough on behalf of SDP Acquisitions concerning 5089 Old Alabama Road in Commission District 4. The underlying variance request asked to reduce specimen tree recompense to zero. In July the Zoning Board of Appeals approved the variance with the condition that recompense be reduced to 25 percent of what was required, payable to the tree replacement fund.

The dollar figure is in dispute. The applicant put it above one million dollars. The county arborist disagreed but did not have the three quotes normally required to calculate the tree replacement fund contribution. Commissioner Ragsdale moved to table so staff can nail down the number before the county runs a full appeal hearing, on the theory that if the county’s figure is lower than the applicant’s, the dispute may resolve itself. Unanimous.

Consent agenda and county manager items

The consent agenda passed unanimously and included IT surplus disposal, acceptance of 3,500 dollars from the U.S. Secret Service for task force cost reimbursement, and a new countywide policy establishing a process for accepting event sponsorships for county hosted events.

It also set three public hearings for September 15: zoning ordinance Article 7 regarding livestock and mobile sawmills, zoning ordinance Article 14 regarding administration, and Article 2 of the Code of Ordinances regarding consumer fireworks.

Twelve county manager items followed, all approved:

• Countywide network access control software and licenses, 75,490.80 dollars over three years, lowest of three quotes.

• Sixteen replacement tasers from Axon for the Marshal’s Office, 110,992.35 dollars over five years.

• Kimley-Horn task order for traffic engineering and concept development at the Fate-Kahn Road and Ball Ground Highway intersection, 38,170 dollars, TSPLOST funded.

• Atlas Technical Consultants right of way appraisals for six parcels at State Route 92 and Trickum Road, 71,200 dollars, 80 percent GDOT funded, tied to ongoing condemnation proceedings.

• Georgia Power encroachment agreement for Technology Ridge Parkway phase 4 and the Airport Road spur, which enables the runway extension at Cherokee County Regional Airport.

• Office furniture for the new CATS administration building, 149,763.70 dollars, entirely federal and state funded with no local dollars.

• Two year facility use agreement with 112 Events for the drive through Christmas light show at Cherokee Veterans Park, with renegotiated terms and roughly 15,000 dollars in estimated FY2027 revenue.

• CityView software maintenance renewal, 97,683.14 dollars, up 6 percent.

• Used towable boom lift for Recreation and Parks, 65,300 dollars, SPLOST funded.

• Roof replacement at the Tax Commissioner’s Office on Town Lake Parkway by Woods Brothers Roofing, 49,375 dollars, lowest of four quotes.

• Amendment adding Bowling Park Road to the 2026 resurfacing project phase one with Summit Construction, 214,161 dollars, funded by the City of Canton.

• Corresponding amendment to the intergovernmental agreement with Canton for that resurfacing work.

Dates to put on your calendar

• September 1: AG5 rural residential subdivision ordinance, scheduled for a decision.

• September 15: Public hearing on a longer term apartment moratorium. ZBA tree ordinance appeal. Public hearings on livestock and mobile sawmills, zoning administration, and consumer fireworks.

• Mid February 2027: Current end of the data center moratorium, unless extended or ended early.

• October 8 and November 12: Ball Ground hearing and council decision on the Georgia Power annexation.