By: Rut Labrada, Arts & Entertainment Editor

The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners passed a two-month moratorium on applications for Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centers on Aug. 25. 

Unanimously voted by the commissioners, this moratorium will ban businesses from submitting applications to receive permits to build data centers for 60 days, as commissioners and county agencies research, review, and develop ordinances on the building of data centers. 

This decision was made with consideration to community-wide opposition to the building of an AI data center in the county, which was reflected at the meeting. Every seat in the meeting room was taken, an unusual occurrence for a regular commissioner’s meeting. 

Notably, this comes as a response to Lowndes Citizens Against Data Centers (LCAD), an organization that has been speaking out against the potential data center since the beginning of 2026. 

Though no application has been submitted to the county to begin progress on the project, citizens have been aware of plans to build a data center near the Foxborough district since late 2025. 

The project is being led by lawyer and businessman Pope Langdale the III, who has been working with AI infrastructure company DC Blox to bring the project to the city. 

LCAD member Tetiana Babcock was one of several citizens who spoke for five minutes during the “Citizens Wishing to be Heard” section of the meeting to present her own opinions regarding the matter. 

She expressed her concern for the impact the data center would have on local families who are struggling with finances. 

“We hear concerns that families cannot keep up with rent and groceries,” said Babcock at the meeting. “Yet we are asked to accept a project that shrinks the future job market our children will walk into. You cannot say you care about affordability and then help build the infrastructure that makes good local jobs disappear.” 

Babcock, who owns land near the south edge of the prospective data center, previously expressed concerns regarding encroachment in March of this year, stating that logging trucks had entered and caused damage to her property. 

“They actually cleared over the fence line, dragging the fence onto our property, leaving some damage from the heavy machinery, heavy track marks, some trees down, leaving the debris behind for us to just find,” Babcock told the Spectator. 

This violated one of the conditions placed on the land where the prospective data center would go, which requires a 200-foot buffer around property lines near Residential Zoning District boundaries, and the situation raised alarm among Lowndes citizens. 

Joel Dion, LCAD member and affected resident, shared his thoughts on the meeting’s outcome. 

“I don’t know how much a two-month moratorium will help us; it’s a step in the right direction,” said Dion. “I think most people in the crowd that day were hoping more for a full moratorium and a full ban.”