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Case File · Fayetteville, Fayette County, Georgia
Crow Holdings’ CHI/Acquisitions presented a data-center site plan on a Business Park parcel where the use was permitted. Planning & Zoning denied on January 27, 2026. On March 5, City Council adopted Ordinance 26-O-12 prohibiting new data centers in every zoning district. The appeal was withdrawn the next week.
Cited site read: 22/100 before the P&Z hearing — flagging the adjacent Fayette County transmission backlash as the leading indicator.
Business Park
Underlying Zoning
Denied
P&Z Vote
~100 residents
Hearing Attendance
26-O-12
Ordinance
All
Districts Affected
22/100
RealClear Score
Fayetteville, GA · 2025 — 2026
Thirty-seven days from Planning & Zoning denial to Unified Development Ordinance amendment.
Late 2025
CHI/Acquisitions approaches Fayetteville
Crow Holdings Development, through CHI/Acquisitions, LP, identifies a parcel north of Fayette Pavilion shopping center along Highway 85 North. The site is zoned Business Park — a designation under which data center use is permitted under the city's Unified Development Ordinance.
January 27, 2026
Planning & Zoning Commission denies the site plan
CHI/Acquisitions presents the conceptual site plan to the Fayetteville Planning & Zoning Commission. Approximately 100 residents attend. The commission votes to deny the site plan, signalling that even a by-right use encounters a political veto once organized community attention arrives.
February 2026
Applicant appeals to City Council
CHI/Acquisitions files an appeal of the Planning & Zoning denial. The appeal is scheduled to be heard at the March 19, 2026 City Council meeting. In parallel, the city begins drafting a broad Unified Development Ordinance amendment covering every zoning district.
March 5, 2026
City Council adopts Ordinance 26-O-12
The Fayetteville City Council adopts Ordinance 26-O-12, an amendment to Chapters 200 and 400 of the Unified Development Ordinance. The ordinance prohibits new data centers in every zoning district within the City of Fayetteville, eliminating the by-right pathway the Business Park designation had previously provided.
March 18, 2026
Applicant withdraws appeal
With the underlying use prohibited citywide, CHI/Acquisitions formally withdraws its appeal one day before the scheduled City Council hearing. The appeal is not decided on the merits; it is mooted by the underlying code change.
March 2026 — Ongoing
Fayette County data-center ordinance wave continues
Neighboring Fayette County jurisdictions continue adopting data-center regulations amid broader backlash over Georgia Power's eminent domain actions to serve the existing QTS Fayette County campus. The city-level ban sits inside a broader regional pattern documented by GPB and DeSmog.
The People Who Decided This Case
A commission, a council, a developer, and the residents who connected the dots back to transmission.
Fayetteville Planning & Zoning Commission
City of Fayetteville
Documented Record
Denied the CHI/Acquisitions site plan at the January 27, 2026 meeting with approximately 100 residents in attendance. Denial is documented on the City of Fayetteville Data Center Discussion page.
The commission's denial of a by-right use signaled that Business Park zoning was a paper protection. When a P&Z commission denies on a permitted use, it is usually a proxy vote for the underlying legislative body's impending code change.
Fayetteville City Council
City of Fayetteville
Documented Record
Adopted Ordinance 26-O-12 on March 5, 2026, prohibiting new data centers in every zoning district. The ordinance amends Chapters 200 and 400 of the Unified Development Ordinance.
Moving from a single denied application to a citywide prohibition in 37 days is a strong political signal. The ordinance forecloses not just this site but any future Fayetteville data-center proposal without a further council action.
CHI/Acquisitions, LP (Crow Holdings)
Applicant / Developer
Documented Record
Presented a conceptual site plan January 27, 2026; filed appeal of the P&Z denial; formally withdrew the appeal on March 18, 2026 after the citywide ban was adopted.
The withdrawal was procedurally rational once the use became prohibited — there was no remedy available from the appellate body. Crow Holdings' reputation as a disciplined developer suggests it will redirect capital rather than litigate a legislative ordinance adopted by a council with unified opposition.
Community Opposition (approx. 100 residents)
Fayetteville residents
Documented Record
Approximately 100 residents attended the January 27, 2026 Planning & Zoning hearing, including young adults, parents, students, and seniors, per attendee reports cited in The Citizen.
A 100-person turnout for a non-rezoning commission hearing on a by-right use is an unusually high engagement signal for a city Fayetteville's size. It is the kind of base that drives adoption of prohibitive ordinances within weeks.
Fayette County (Georgia Power transmission pressure)
Contextual political factor
Documented Record
A Fayette County resident told Georgia's energy committee that Georgia Power used eminent domain to place transmission line poles through neighborhoods serving the existing QTS Fayette County data-center campus, per GPB reporting.
The county-level political damage from the QTS transmission build-out preconditions Fayetteville residents to oppose any new data-center capacity, even inside their own city limits. This adjacency effect is a structural risk factor, not a site-specific one.
The Key Differentiator
By-Right Is Not Protection
Business Park zoning permitted data-center use under Fayetteville's UDO. A council majority adopted a citywide prohibition 37 days after the first hearing. The feasibility of a use is set by the fastest path to a legislative amendment, not the current permitted-use table.
Adjacent Transmission Backlash
Fayette County residents had already testified to Georgia's energy committee about Georgia Power eminent-domain takings to serve the existing QTS Fayette County campus. A municipal data-center proposal lands on top of a live, named grievance.
100-Person P&Z Turnout
Approximately 100 residents attending a Planning & Zoning hearing on a single parcel is an engagement level that typically precedes district-wide legislative action within a single council cycle.
Georgia DC Ordinance Wave
GPB and DeSmog document a wave of data-center ordinances sweeping Georgia counties through 2025-2026. Fayetteville's ordinance sits squarely inside that pattern, not outside it.
Adjacent QTS Campus Exists
QTS Fayette County is an existing, built data-center campus nearby. Rather than establishing a precedent of acceptance, its construction appears to have established the political memory that organized the opposition to CHI/Acquisitions.
Appeal Becomes Moot
The March 18 withdrawal was not a strategic choice — it was a forced one. An appeal of a denial on a use the legislative body has since prohibited provides no remedy. The cited research surfaces the class of jurisdictions where that sequence is possible.
The Pre-Filing Research
Before the P&Z hearing. Before the ordinance. Before the appeal withdrawal.
Site Analysis
CHI/Acquisitions, LP — Highway 85 North
Fayetteville, Fayette County, GA — parcel north of Fayette Pavilion, Business Park zoning
Material Constraints
Recommendation
DO NOT PURSUE. A permitted-use designation is not protection when a council can move from hearing to citywide prohibition in six weeks. Route Georgia Power transmission controversy in adjacent Fayette County neighborhoods pre-loaded the political hostility. Redirect to industrially-sited Georgia jurisdictions with adopted, not pending, data-center ordinances.
This Is Entitlement Research
RealClear maps adjacent-transmission backlash, by-right reversibility, and ordinance-wave exposure — before you file.
Cited research summary · Not legal advice · Verify independently before making investment decisions
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