By Rut Labrada, Staff writer 

A proposed Artificial Intelligence data center near the Foxborough subdivision in Valdosta, located 4.6 miles northwest of VSU, has sparked concern among Lowndes County residents amidst a growing trend of data-center construction in rural communities. 

AI data centers are specialized facilities designed to train and run a large-scale AI model, which is part of a rapidly growing market, as AI usage has become increasingly prevalent all over the world. 

Many residents first heard about the idea in early June 2025, when a post was shared on the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE) Facebook page, both explaining the early stages of the plan and expressing anger that the information was not made publicly available sooner. 

On July 8, 2025, the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners held a meeting to discuss the project and consider rezoning the land, owned by lawyer Pope Langdale the III, to M-1, which would approve the land for light manufacturing and industrial use, for the purposes of building the data center. Despite opposition from many Foxborough residents, the board passed the rezoning request in a split vote 4-3. 

The project will need board approval to move forward, but no vote has been scheduled as of now. 

The project raised concerns in part because AI data centers traditionally require immense amounts of energy, and, in previous projects, the costs associated with building the necessary infrastructure to house the data center has led to higher utility bills for residents in affected areas. 

Just a few months later, in December, Lowndes County residents created the Lowndes Citizens Against Data Centers (LCAD) organization to oppose the project. 

The proposal is being spearheaded by Langdale, who is working with AI data center and infrastructure provider DC BLOX to bring the data center to Valdosta. 

On Feb. 17, LCAD organizers, in partnership with the VSU Anthropology Club and Alpha Kappa Alpha, hosted a town meeting at the Student Union Theatre, where county residents were encouraged to voice their opinions on the proposal. During a heated debate, Langdale expressed his hopes for the data center. 

“The tax revenue to the county and the city would be enormous. Enough to even, if the county government wanted to, they could eliminate probably the property taxes. It will flush the city government with enough money for our schools, the roads, the bridges, the infrastructure,” he said. 

The project also brought up other concerns regarding water usage, as a typical AI data center can consume up to five million gallons of water per day. 

According to Langdale, the data center would run on a closed-loop cooling system, in which the water is reused and not consumed. 

“So, with respect to that, I don’t think there would be any issue affecting our water tables, our aquifer, or anything like that,” he said. 

Many residents were not happy with the idea, however. 

Environmental activist and former VSU Professor Michaell Noll, one of the head organizers of LCAD, later voiced concerns regarding how the AI data center has impacted affected residents before. 

“There are issues of, say noise pollution.. You can easily find the testimony of folks who tried to enjoy their retirement in a quiet, beautiful, natural environment. And without their anticipating it, suddenly a data center becomes a neighbor.. and their retirement dreams have been destroyed,” he said. 

He continued to explain the other issues tied to AI data centers being placed in local communities. 

“So, there’s noise pollution, there’s also light pollution, and there’s actual air pollution. Anytime you look at a data center, they are running 24/7. There’s not a break,” he said. 

Noll explained that the residents’ frustration is primarily caused by the very little information that is available on AI data centers and the lack of clear-cut protection being given to residents regarding these concerns, stating that he felt the best path forward would be for the planning committee to take community input and work with Lowndes residents to minimize any harm that the data center could inflict. 

Several LCAD members planned to attend a Lowndes County Board of Commissioners meeting on Feb. 24, to continue the discussion that began at the town hall meeting. 

However, the board cancelled the regular meeting, stating that there was “a lack of agenda items requiring attention” on the board website, frustrating LCAD members who were looking to find answers at the event. 

As of now, no official decision has been made by the board to build the data center, but LCAD members are working to move the board to consider the best interests of the Lowndes community before making the vote. 

The organization now plans to call for a moratorium, a temporary freeze, to be put in place, to prevent the data center from being constructed while residents gather more information, stating that there have been cases where residents have had to cover the costs for data centers. 

“If there’s going to be a data center, we want to make sure there’s ordinances in places to prevent the customers of the utilities companies from having to foot the bill for the 

overbuilding,” said Joel Dion, LCAD organizer and affected resident of the Foxborough subdivision. 

Dion also expressed concerns about whether he would be able to stay in the neighborhood if the data center was built. 

“Do I want to purchase a house that could have water issues? Do I want to purchase a house that could be right next to the data center, that has light and water pollution? I don’t know,” he said.