The Airport Site

Site 1 · State filing

“Canoochee River RV Resort - Data Center Project”

On October 5, 2026, the county submitted the project to the state's Development of Regional Impact program, the review big projects have to go through. The form was filled out by County Administrator Bryan Aasheim and describes it in the developer's terms:

"Project seeks to develop a data center campus on +/- 470 acres of land adjacent to the Metter-Candler Airport and south of Interstate 16. The proposed site contains five (5) buildings of up to 250,000 sq ft each, parking, mechanical yards, substations, well site, retention ponds and access roads. The developer seeks to build structures in phases over a period of 5-7 years to final completion."

• Type: Technological Facility (Including Data Centers).
• Address: 2700 Airport Rd, Metter.
• Size: 470 acres, 5 data center buildings. Up to about 1.25 million square feet in all.
• Finish date: 2033.
• What it asks the county for: a rezoning and permits (the form's examples: certificates of occupancy, tree removal, business licenses). The water and sewer boxes are not checked, which fits the on-site well in the description.
• Part of a larger project? The form says no.
• Not on the form yet: how much power or water it would use. Those come later, in the state's "additional" form.

Source: Georgia DCA, DRI #4846 initial form, filed 10/5/2026; status "Initial Form Submitted" as of 10/6/2026. Our saved copies: initial form, summary.

Site 1 · Rezoning application

The PUD application: five buildings, two substations, and no power number

The application, dated October 2, 2026, asks to rezone four parcels at 2700 Airport Rd from agricultural (AG-3) to a PUD “to develop a data center campus.” In its own words:

"The proposed use includes five buildings - each with dedicated parking and a dedicated mechanical yard - as well as two substations, a well and fire system site, retention ponds, and access roads."

• The buildings: about 250,000 square feet each, one story, up to 40 feet tall. Five of them is about 1.25 million square feet.
• The substations: two, about 12 acres and 5 acres, built in two phases (about 158 acres, then about 56).
• On the land: the site plan maps wetlands and a FEMA flood zone across the property.
• Their promises: 50 dBA at every property line, no water used for cooling, generators only for emergencies and daytime testing, and grid upgrades paid by the developer.
• Missing: how much power it would use. There is no megawatt figure anywhere in the application, the design, or the site plan.
• Who drew it: the building design is by Solomon Data Systems Inc., which describes itself as a developer of “AI data center campuses” of 20 to 400 megawatts with “behind the meter generation,” meaning power made on site. The site plan, “Project Metter,” is by the engineering firm Thomas & Hutton, which also engineered the Burkhalter Road data center project in Statesboro. Thomas & Hutton is a large firm, so that alone doesn’t prove the two projects are connected.

The fine print: the plan doesn’t promise anything

The site plan says it is “for discussion purposes only, does not limit or bind the owner/developer, and is subject to change.” The county says an approved PUD is “restricted to the design plan presented.” Those two things don’t match. The only promises that count are the ones the commissioners write into the approval. Everything above, from the 50 dBA limit to the no-cooling-water promise, means nothing unless it becomes a condition.

So ask the commissioners to write the rules down. Here are five to ask for.

Source: the county’s Data Center Information Hub: PUD application, building design, site plan. Our saved copy of the signed application. Solomon Data Systems’ description is from its website.

Open question

A clue in the county's own study

In February 2026, the county's Industrial Authority asked an economics firm to estimate what a data center would bring in taxes. The study pictured a 100-megawatt data center "along I-16 near the airport," and it assumed the land "would be annexed into the City of Metter."

Here's why that matters: the data center site filed with the state is staying in the county. It is not being annexed. The land that is being annexed is Fortner Road. So either the plan changed after February, or the study had Fortner in mind. Either way, the Industrial Authority should explain it.

The numbers in it are huge. The study assumed a $1.1 billion building plus $5.5 billion in equipment, with the computer servers replaced every four years. That adds up to $31.6 billion over 20 years, with 40 jobs. It promises "just over $1 billion" in local taxes over 20 years. All of it "per the information provided by the client."

The same firm, Economic Impact Group, wrote a similar study for the Burkhalter Road data center in Statesboro, for 99 megawatts. That one assumed $1.2 billion and 12 jobs, and promised about $76.6 million over 10 years. Almost the same size, very different math. See the side-by-side.

Read our copy of the study (PDF) and its one-page summaries: County, City, Schools.

Source: "LOCI Fiscal Impact Analysis, 100MW Data Center in Candler County," Economic Impact Group, February 2026 (PDF), posted on the county's Data Center Information Hub.

Open question

Same lawyer on both

The state data center filing lists the developer's contact email as Chris Gohagan's, at the law firm Taulbee, Rushing, Snipes, Marsh & Hodgin. Gohagan is also the attorney the Fortner Road engineers called "our legal counsel for this annexation." The same firm prepared deeds behind the Burkhalter Road data center site in Statesboro.

That doesn't prove the projects are connected. Lawyers have many clients. But it's a fair question for the commissioners and the City Council: are these one plan or two?

Sources: DRI #4846 initial form; Fortner Road email thread, 2026; Protect Statesboro (Burkhalter Road records).

New · Open question

A new rezoning near Hiawatha Street

On October 1, the Candler County Industrial Authority asked the City of Metter to rezone 25 acres on the west side of Fortner Road, between West Hiawatha Street and West Lytell Street, from homes (R-4) to light industrial (L-1) “for the purpose of expanding the industrial park.” The Metter City Council heard the first reading on October 12.

• The plan: one building of about 257,000 square feet with about 165 employee parking spaces, drawn by Thomas & Hutton on September 30. The application calls it an “industrial facility.” It doesn’t say what kind.
• The traffic estimate: about 723 car and truck trips on a weekday. Thomas & Hutton wrote that it used the category “Manufacturing” because the plan is conceptual, and that the real number depends on the business that moves in.
• What the city’s own staff wrote: “There is no development proposal at this time.” The request is “not in compliance with the comprehensive plan.” Rezoning would let the Industrial Authority apply for grant money to get the land ready.
• Next door: the Drew Avenue homes sit to the east of it.

Is this the Hiawatha site? We can’t prove it. It’s off Hiawatha Street inside the city, like the site the County Administrator described. It’s filed by the Industrial Authority, the group Georgia Virtue said was courting a data center. And Thomas & Hutton is the same firm that drew the airport campus. None of that proves a data center is planned here. But with no business named, it’s a fair question for the City Council: what is this building for?

Sources: Metter City Council agenda packet, October 12, 2026 (item 10b: the application, plan and staff report; received under the Open Records Act October 14, available on request); Thomas & Hutton traffic memo, September 30, 2026 (received October 15); Georgia Virtue, September 8, 2026.