NAHUNTA — A committee meeting Thursday for the purpose of developing a Land Use Ordinance for the possibility of a data center ended with one person being detained outside the Brantley County Commission office.
J.T. Flanders of Brunswick was handc uffed and placed inside the back seat of a Brantley County Sheriff’s Office vehicle following a dispute near the end of the meeting.
The detaining took place after a verbal exchange between Flanders and Commissioner Randy Davison, who was exiting the meeting.
Flanders posted on Facebook he was at the meeting “fighting for better land management and land use ordinances after repeated misuse of land use processes by Brantley County Commissioners resulted in me getting wrongfully detained and removed from a county building where a citizens committee for responsible land ordinances were being proposed and drafted.”
According to County Manager Joey Cason Friday morning (February 27), Flanders had been asked to leave the meeting by law enforcement, came back, was asked to leave again, said he didn’t have to leave, and the officer put him in his vehicle.
“If he (Flanders) hadn’t returned, nothing would have happened,” said Cason. “Ms. (Loretta) Hilton tried to read the ordinance. Several citizens were rude and out of order, and ultimately, we got through reading the ordinance. There was some good feedback provided by the group.”
Hylton, a past president and board member of the Georgia Association of Zoning Administrators (GAZA) who lives in Camden County, has been working to draft a local ordinance concerning data centers. She has extensive experience with writing zoning ordinances, comprehensive plans and hazard mitigation plans.
Hylton was sharing her 19-page document with the committee which includes commissioners Randy Davison and Andy Riggins, the Planning Commission, the Brantley County Chamber, the Development Authority and Satilla Riverkeeper.
Commissioner Riggins recommended the commission postpone the amendment to Brantley’s Land Use Ordinance during the Tuesday, February 3 work session until more information can be gathered and more community input given. A committee was formed to bring an ordinance to the commission. This was the second meeting of the group.
“The meeting was to gather everyone’s thoughts on the draft,” Cason said. “It was not a formal meeting, but it was also a situation where we can’t not have it open to the public. I gave the guideline no one could comment until the end of the reading and let the committee members have the meeting. I have no say in that committee. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
“The sheriff (Len Davis) was called. He came in, listened to the whole situation, and he let the individual go.”
Flanders posted he didn’t cuss nor wasn’t any louder or more interruptive than anyone else in attendance.
“This meeting was not an official commissioners meeting,” wrote Flanders. “But, two commissioners and the county manager made the three out of five “community committee” members for drafting ordinances to propose to our county commissioners.
“We asked to hold off on drafting an ordinance to allow data centers and instead draft a moratorium to pause further progress in the data center area. We asked for ordinance to update land use permitting processes to include habitat and environmental impact surveys.
“We asked for the use of ground penetrating radar to verify new development in the county is not inadvertently affecting neighboring properties before damage is done instead of the currently accepted process of allowing development and then suing developers after if any damage is done to the neighbors.”
Cason said the committee does not have a formal draft of the Land Use Ordinance concerning a data center to be released yet.
“This is a working document,” the county manager said. “As soon as we have something they’re (committee to county) going to consider, I will make sure that’s public record and ready to go.
“We’re going to have a very solid local ordinance in place to protect the citizens and the county from any outsiders coming in and doing something that wouldn’t be in the best interest of the citizens.
“What this ordinance is going to do is protect the water. That’s the whole intent of having an ordinance. This will not be an open loop system that can just drain the aquifer.
“This will not be a system that’s just dumping water into creeks or the river. This is going to be a closed loop system that would require them to have a lined retention pond to protect from leakage that’s going to use the water over and over again with minimal withdrawal to maintain any evaporation.”
As for purchasing the property, Cason said the commission made a $10 million offer several years ago to the current owners, but the offer was squashed.
