DEKALB COUNTY, GA — DeKalb County officials have upheld the denial of Shadowbox Studios’ plans to build a massive data center next to its existing studio, but the company says its fight will continue in court.
The proposal calls for a more than 1 million-square-foot data center on 155 acres along International Park Drive in south DeKalb County.
Shadowbox attorney Simon Bloom said the studio moved forward with developing the property after receiving three written confirmations from the county’s planning department that a data center was allowed on the site.
“Three insurances all in writing, all from the planning department, and all saying you have a right to use this property for a data center; and none of this is in dispute,” Bloom said.
Bloom said Shadowbox spent $37 million developing the land before the county enacted a moratorium on new data centers.
“And then they passed a moratorium that is defective on its face, and says now you can’t do what we told you you could do. You don’t need to be a lawyer to appreciate the injustice of that,” Bloom said.
DeKalb County Zoning Board of Appeals member Eric Hubbard said the dispute raises a legal question that should be handled by the courts.
“Even if there’s a moratorium granted by the board of commissioners, this is not the proper venue,” Hubbard said.
DeKalb County’s data center moratorium has been in place since last summer and has been extended multiple times. It currently runs through the end of March.
Cobb, Cherokee and Clayton counties are among other metro Atlanta communities that have enacted similar moratoriums. The pauses are intended to give staff time to study the impact of data centers on infrastructure, including electrical grids and water resources, and determine whether specific rules and regulations should apply.
Shadowbox has filed a lawsuit against DeKalb County in Superior Court and plans to continue its effort to move the project forward.
WSB Radio’s Ashley Simmons & Veronica Waters contributed to this story.