Hundreds Pack Marietta City Hall to Say No to the Bells Ferry Data Center

If you could not make it to the Marietta City Council meeting on Wednesday, June 10, here is what you missed: one of the biggest displays of community power this county has seen in years. NGA CAN members and allies were in the room, and this recap draws on their firsthand accounts and local news coverage.

The line outside City Hall wrapped around the block. Screenshot via local progressive activist confusedleftistnoises on TikTok.

The Turnout

By 6:00 pm, an hour before the meeting even started, the council chamber was filling fast. By 7:00 it was standing room only, the lobby was at capacity, and a line stretched outside the building. Hundreds of people showed up; based on photos from the night, organizers put the count between 600 and 800. People who could not get inside pressed their signs against the chamber windows and chanted "We say no" and "Not for us" loudly enough to be heard inside the meeting and on the official livestream.

None of this happened by accident. The turnout was the result of weeks of work by neighbors and allied local organizations: knocking doors, printing and handing out hundreds of flyers, collecting petition signatures, and pushing back on misinformation online. If you ever wonder whether canvassing works, Wednesday night is your answer.

Attendees wore red and carried signs reading "No data centers" and "Ban data centers in Marietta." Channel 2 (WSB-TV), the Marietta Daily Journal, the AJC, and Cobb Collaborative were all on hand covering the night and recording public opinion outside City Hall.

Shut out of a packed council chamber, residents filled the City Hall lobby, watching the proceedings through the glass and breaking into chants of 'We say no.

Why We Were There

In June 2025, the council voted 7 to 0 to rezone 31 acres at 1751 Bells Ferry Road from commercial/retail to light industrial, clearing the way for Atlanta based MMM Acquisitions to build a hyperscale data center campus: two buildings plus a four acre substation, originally proposed at 108 megawatts, near neighborhoods where some residents have lived for decades. The approval came with no independent environmental study and no health impact review. Many neighbors say the rezoning was not adequately advertised, and most residents did not know it was happening until it was already done. The project only recently came to broad public attention after posts about it spread on social media.

The day before the meeting, the city released a statement saying the original proposal, which called for more than 100 megawatts of power, is not moving forward, and that more recent discussions involved 60 megawatts or less but have stalled. Marietta Power also claimed any data center on the property would not strain the grid or impact current customers. Residents in attendance were not reassured, and for good reason: the rezoning approval itself still stands. No tenant today does not mean no tenant ever. The moment current obstacles are cleared, a developer can move forward without another public vote. Residents with engineering backgrounds also noted that the natural gas turbines these facilities often rely on can be small enough to escape EPA regulation entirely, and those turbines are among the biggest sources of noise and pollution.

Mayor Steve Tumlin's position, stated to the Marietta Daily Journal before the meeting, was that residents are a year too late to challenge the approval. The community's response: zoning gets changed all the time when there is political will. The council spent much of this very meeting making zoning decisions, including lengthy deliberations over a single homeowner's addition, while claiming its hands are tied on a 31 acre industrial project.

Those who arrived early enough to claim seats came prepared: red shirts and signs, many handed out by volunteers in the back of the chamber.

What Happened Inside

Data centers were not on the agenda, and the council did not directly address the issue. But facing an overflowing chamber and chants from outside, the council extended public comment by an additional 15 minutes, for 45 minutes total, and allowed more speakers than usual, though most speakers were limited to one minute.

More than a dozen people spoke, the overwhelming majority against data centers in Marietta. Residents came to put three demands on the record: a formal public statement from the council on the data center, an end to the current approval, and a moratorium on future data center approvals.

Speakers included State Representative Gabriel Sanchez (D-Smyrna) and Sam Foster, runner up in last year's mayoral race, both of whom called on the council to listen to the people it represents. Residents raised water and electricity use, noise, pollution, rising utility bills and cost of living, mass surveillance (including the connection between data centers and Flock camera networks), impacts on surrounding neighborhoods, and the city's lack of transparency throughout the process.

One Bells Ferry area neighbor, Perry Barrett, presented the council with pages of physical petition signatures gathered door to door, alongside an online petition that continues to grow. "I cannot afford increased rates and I cannot afford to move," he told the council, urging a moratorium on data center construction in the city at least until an independent environmental impact study is completed.

When public comment ended, the council adjourned without responding to the substance of what hundreds of residents had just said. Councilmembers Cheryl Richardson and Joseph Goldstein did stay afterward to listen and speak with attendees one on one.

News crews set up inside the chamber while residents, locked out by the capacity crowd, watched through the windows behind them.

The Coverage

The press could not ignore Wednesday night, but it is worth reading the two main stories side by side, because how an outlet frames a protest tells you almost as much as the protest itself.

WSB-TV Channel 2 showed up and got the footage, but built its story around the city's talking points, leading with the reminder that no construction plans were on the agenda and giving Marietta Power's reassurances the final word: https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/cobb-county/marietta-city-council-faces-opposition-over-data-center-plans/LZ6OIWQCG5CJ3CCJBS5GKWUFVQ/

The Marietta Daily Journal put the story where it belonged. Its headline, "Hundreds protest data center at Marietta Council meeting," leads with the people, and the article covers the overflow crowd, the extended public comment, and the substance of what residents actually said: https://www.mdjonline.com/news/local/hundreds-protest-data-center-at-marietta-council-meeting/article_c7a35025-a140-4a74-8296-fcfb7e0707ea.html

Some ownership context worth knowing when you read Atlanta media coverage of data centers. The Atlanta Journal Constitution is owned by Cox Enterprises. WSB-TV is owned by Cox Media Group, which has been majority owned by the private equity firm Apollo Global Management since 2019, with Cox Enterprises retaining a minority stake. And Cox Enterprises' largest division, Cox Communications, is a major player in the business of connecting data centers: it operates tens of thousands of miles of commercial fiber, sells data center connectivity and cloud services, markets "AI-ready infrastructure" to enterprise customers, and has invested in digital infrastructure companies over the years (https://dgtlinfra.com/cox-communications-segra-commercial-services/). Cox Communications is currently merging with Charter in a $34.5 billion deal that combines their cable, commercial fiber, and cloud businesses. None of this means any individual reporter is compromised. It does mean readers should know that the companies behind much of our local news have a financial stake in the industry being protested, and should weigh the framing accordingly.

And you do not have to take anyone's framing on faith, ours included. A recording of the full meeting should be posted on the city's website within a day or two and will remain available for one year. Watch the public comments and judge for yourself: https://marietta.granicus.com/player/event/3184?view_id=7&redirect=true

Not every elected official watched from the dais. State Rep. Gabriel Sanchez (D-Smyrna) stood with residents, held a sign, and used his public comment to demand the council listen to the people it represents. Support his campaign: https://www.sanchezforgeorgia.com/

What Comes Next

This was a beginning, not an ending. Here is how to stay involved:

1. Sign and share the petition: https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-data-center-from-being-built-off-bells-ferry-rd-marietta-ga

2. Email the council. Even if you could not attend, your voice counts. Put your name, your address, and your opposition on the record:

   1. Mayor Tumlin: stumlin@mariettaga.gov

   2. Councilwoman Richardson: crichardson@mariettaga.gov

   3. Councilman Waters: jwaters@mariettaga.gov

   4. Councilman Gaddis: dgaddis@mariettaga.gov

   5. Councilman Anderson: banderson@mariettaga.gov

   6. Councilman Kent: mckent@mariettaga.gov

   7. Councilman Sims: Asims@mariettaga.gov

   8. Councilman Goldstein: Jgoldstein@mariettaga.gov

3. Mark your calendar for the next Marietta City Council meeting, Wednesday, July 8 at 7:00 pm at Marietta City Hall, 205 Lawrence Street NE, Marietta, GA 30060. Public comment slots fill fast. Speakers this time secured spots by arriving around 5:30, and organizers are working to clarify the signup process for scheduled versus unscheduled comments.

4. Keep an eye on Cobb County. The county's data center moratorium is set to expire later this summer, and residents plan to ask the Board of Commissioners to extend it, or better yet, make it permanent. The energy from Marietta needs to spread to every city council in the county. For ongoing updates, visit https://stopcobbdatacenter.com

5. Watch Cherokee County too. While Cherokee has no data center rules in its zoning code, the county's own economic development office has described an increased and aggressive focus on recruiting data centers as a target sector (https://cherokeega.org/cbc/innovative-business/) and has marketed multiple potential sites in the county. This fight is regional.

6. Get involved in local elections. Several attendees left the meeting talking about recruiting and supporting candidates for city council and school board. If Wednesday night proved anything, it is that the people of this community are paying attention, and they vote.

Organizers are also working to bring together neighborhood groups and allied organizations into a broader coalition with unified demands, including the idea of requiring a public referendum before any future data center can be built within city limits.

The Bottom Line

Hundreds of neighbors gave up their Wednesday night to sit through hours of municipal business for the chance to speak for sixty seconds each. They filled the chamber, the lobby, and the sidewalk outside. They were respectful, organized, and impossible to ignore. The council may not have responded that night, but every elected official in Cobb County now knows exactly where this community stands.

We are just getting started. See you on July 8.