As data center proposals appear in communities across Georgia, city leaders are preparing to address development and utility issues. Data center proposals are showing up in communities across Georgia, and city leaders need to be ready, the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) reported as it announced a specialized full-day planning summit.
Inside the Atlanta Data Center Summit
The upcoming gathering at the GMA offices in downtown Atlanta is designed to give municipal officials a tactical playbook before developers knock on their doors. Scheduled for a 9:00 a.m. start with breakfast beginning at 8:00 a.m., the event runs until 3:00 p.m. at 201 Pryor Street, SW. Registration is set at $50, though capacity is strictly capped at 100 attendees, reflecting the intensive, workshop-style nature of the program.
Organizers have structured the sessions to unpack the technical foundations, starting with the basics of what data centers are and how they actually operate. Attendees will then hear cross-state lessons from Virginia, where a county attorney will share firsthand institutional knowledge on what local governments learned along the way as massive clusters transformed their own rural and suburban areas.
Industry Panel Tackles Power Draws and Utility Grids
An industry panel at the summit will address what is trending next in power and energy considerations, directly tackling how massive electrical draws intersect with local utility grids. Complementing this, Public Service Commission Chair Jason Shaw will deliver a direct regulatory update, offering municipal leaders a clear window into state-level oversight.
Beyond the substation, land use and conservation issues are tethered tightly to every square foot of data center development. Officials from rural Georgia communities who have worked directly through the zoning and permitting process for these projects will share their ground-level perspectives, detailing the friction points between rapid tech expansion and local agricultural or residential preservation.
For out-of-town participants attending the Atlanta sessions, hotel room reservations have been arranged at the Origin Hotel, located at 110 Mitchell St SW.
