What Mableton Leaders Are Saying About Georgia’s Data Center Boom
Updated: Jul 16
Editor's Notes: *We are publishing this piece so Mableton residents can get ahead of Georgia's growing data center trend. Having the facts early helps us shape our community's future, rather than just reacting to it.
**The article below is an abridged version that focuses specifically on the responses from our leaders here in Mableton. We encourage you to read the full, in-depth report by clicking here.
— Matthew Stover, Publisher, The Mableton Common
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Georgia has become one of the nation's fastest-growing markets for data center construction, fueled by increasing demand for artificial intelligence. But after nearly a decade of rapid growth, communities across the state are increasingly questioning whether the facilities deliver enough economic benefits to justify their demands on water, electricity, tax incentives and nearby neighborhoods.
Becca Ford, a member of the board of directors for the Mableton Improvement Coalition and chair of its zoning commission, said she has yet to see evidence that data centers provide a meaningful return on investment for local communities.
While property taxes still apply to data centers, Ford said she believes some facilities are assessed below their highest potential use. She argued that if residential neighborhoods or commercial developments occupied those sites instead, local governments could potentially generate greater long-term tax revenue.
The Mableton Perspective
Image Credit: Katie Tucker/The Telegraph. An aerial view of the Meta’s Stanton Springs Data Center on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, in Newton County, Ga.
Ford said no applications for a data center have been submitted in Mableton. However, she noted that the commission reviewed two warehouse proposals over the past year and they explicitly excluded data centers as a permitted use.
She said her concerns center on environmental impacts, including noise and light pollution, along with the relatively small number of permanent jobs created after construction is complete.
"It maybe can help in a rural area with road construction or substations, but that wouldn't help us in Mableton," Ford said.
"They do too much to the environment and don't provide enough back. They don't provide large long-term job creation. It's the return on investment from a tax standpoint. Because we are not in the middle of nowhere, somebody's neighborhood is going to be near that hum.”
Mableton City Councilwoman Cassandra Brown said there are currently no known proposals for a data center within the city, but she believes local governments must still be prepared to evaluate any future applications fairly.
Brown noted that several large data centers already operate nearby in Douglas County, making the issue relevant even without a current proposal in Mableton.
Personally, Brown said she would not support a data center located near residential neighborhoods and believes Georgia needs stronger statewide regulations before additional facilities are approved.
"I think we really need to back up and think about the whole idea of data centers in Georgia," she said. "Georgia doesn't have good, solid laws around that right now. In some cases, ratepayers are bearing the cost of the expansive needs of data centers, particularly electricity rates."
Brown said policymakers need to consider the broader human and environmental costs of the industry's rapid expansion.
"There is a reckoning that we have to come to with this technology," she said. "Based on what I've been reading, a lot of these data centers are being built on a speculative basis. I think we need to tap the brakes on this whole thing and figure out how and why we need it."
At the same time, Brown acknowledged the growing dependence on artificial intelligence in everyday life.
"We use AI every day in our daily lives, so there's an irony there," she said. "But not a lot of people work in data centers. There are construction jobs while they're being built, but once they're operational, they don't require many employees. Some communities have been told they'll reap all these economic benefits, and we're finding out that's not really the case."
Brown said the controversy surrounding the proposed Marietta data center demonstrates the importance of residents staying engaged with local government decisions.
"We have a lesson from Marietta," she said. "That data center was approved more than a year ago, and people are just now awakening to the fact that it's happening. This really ties into people being involved in their local government."
She believes additional safeguards are needed at every level of government. "I believe there need to be guardrails—not just at the city level, but at the state and federal levels—on how this impacts us," Brown said. "I don't believe they bring the kind of economic impact that the promoters typically say they do."
Brown pointed to recent residential developments along *Cooper Lake Road as an example of how Mableton's new city government has begun shaping projects inherited from Cobb County. While those developments were approved before the city was incorporated, developers returned to the city for design reviews, allowing council members to recommend changes such as additional brick and windows, which the builders accepted.
"It's something that we need to address as a society," Brown said. "What are the rules of engagement? How does this work? It's probably not going away, so is there a reasonable way we can all coexist with it? But that doesn't mean I want a data center in Mableton.”
Mableton Mayor’s Position on Data Centers
The city is uniquely positioned within this technology landscape as the only U.S. city to be 100 percent in the cloud, therefore dependent on data centers. Mableton was even a winner for the Smart Cities Connect 2026 Smart 20 award.
In the Mayor’s February 12 op-ed in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, titled “Data centers and AI are helping my Georgia city punch above its weight,” Owens argued that new data center construction provides local governments with more revenue, needed jobs and enhanced energy infrastructure. He noted that Georgia’s reliable and diverse grid is one of the reasons the state is seeing a significant boon in data center construction.
“They’re also the backbone of artificial intelligence, putting our state in a leading role in the global AI race and attracting world-class talent and capital,” Owens said in the Op-Ed.
Now that we have more data on the consequences many local cities are experiencing as a result of data centers, we reached out to clarify Owens position on them for Mableton and what positives there are to outweigh the negatives but he was unable to speak on the phone or respond to emailed questions prior to this article being published.
“As mayor of Mableton, I will stay the course on data centers and AI. Our city of 80,000 people has a very small staff, so AI is a tool that allows us to punch above weight, while still being fiscally responsible,” Owens wrote, asserting his commitment to AI and data centers in the Op-Ed.
The Mableton Common will also explore the broader ethical and practical concerns with AI in general as this AI-inspired data center boom could have long-lasting impacts on how society is structured, what education young people will need for the future and the economic realities of the anticipated job losses from AI work consolidation.
If you have any tips, concerns or relevant opinions related to data centers near Mableton, please email matthew@mabletoncommon.com
*CORRECTION: This was originally posted as Floyd Road. It should've said Cooper Lake Road.
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I hope the Mayor will take time to learn about the environmental health and water impact Data Centers have on communities; and realize they are not good for Mableton.
I’m disappointed to read Mayor Owen’s comments that appear to indicate he thinks the expense & environmental impact on Mableton’s residents is a trade off worth making. Any elected official who supports data centers in our city will not get my vote in the future.