There are numerous possibilities that could benefit the county at the site of the landfill if property sold
Dear Editor,
Good news! As of March 13, 2026, the land owned by the Brantley County Development Partners was still for sale with the dump permit included.
If the County purchased the property, the dump issues would no longer exist. The cost is substantial at $14 million. The county had previously offered $10 million to purchase the land.
Benefits of the land purchase could be numerous. The first would be absolutely no dump!
The land has mining potential. It has possible development, like a second industrial park. Also, it could be used as a holding inventory area for businesses linked to the Port of These types of opportunities offer the people of Brantley County more actual job possibilities than a data center. Data centers do not actually employ that many people once the construction phase is complete. Even the temporary jobs during construction are usually filled by established mobile crews that move from one data center construction site to another.
The land purchase would have additional benefits, such as allowing the public to have a say in the decision of data centers for our county. That decision could be placed on the November 2 ballot. We could have a series of educational public meeting to weigh the pros and cons of all these options.
No one would expect the citizens of Brantley County to be consulted on every issue that is involved in the day to day running of a county. However, it seems completely unreasonable that as few as three county commissioners could take it upon themselves to decide on an issue of this importance without allowing voters their say at the ballot box.
The “ big scare” that it has to be either a dump or a data center has been greatly lessened. We do have other options.
The Brantley County Development Partners applied for a 423 acre site for a dump. The EPD approved a 123 acre site on the south side of Hwy. 82. The company was planning for a 423 acre site on the north side of Hwy. 82, with the advantage being access to the railroad tracks.
The EPD application was made on the wrong side of Hwy. 82. I believe this significantly reduced its future value as a dump site.
Commissioner Randy Davison stated he did not believe we will be getting a dump during a commissioner’s meeting. He said he thought we could possibly get an incinerator. If the county purchased the land, it would allow the various possibilities to be fully explored.
It would not remove the possible use of the land as a data center site, but it would allow the citizens to make that decision. Dr. Amy Sharma said not to worry about missing a single opportunity for a data center, because they are lined up waiting for their chance for a place to locate.
You need to take part in the decisions that are being made related to our future in this county.
I am asking you to be someone who cares about our county’s future. The County Commissioner’s meetings are at 6 p.m., the first Tuesday and first Thursday each month. The commissioner’s office is located directly behind the Dairy Queen in Nahunta.
I will cover the issues of more than one data center in a future article.
Robert Wilson, Jr.
Brantley County
