Fulton County Commissioners amend zoning rules after community concerns on potential data center

The Fulton County Commissioners meeting was packed Tuesday night after rumors of a potential AI data center development near Akron put community members on alert. 

Despite the topic not being on the agenda for the evening, commissoners address the concerns by giving residents the time to speak during the meeting. The fears began brewing after a Facebook group discussion was created in regards to the possible development and recent zoning changes that were set to take effect in 2026. 

During the meeting Commissioner David Sommers stated they had not had any official proposals or contracts as of yet for the data centers and that the county had only discussed development in general as a way to improve the financial outlook. 

Sommers stated that in the future Fulton County may need help on the finance side and the data center was one thing they had been looking at that could help the county for the future. 

Fulton County Council President Ron Dittman was an attendee of the meeting and voiced his disagreement about the county’s financial needs and how he personally felt a data center would hurt Fulton County in the end rather than benefit it. 

“I’m not willing to finance Fulton County at the detriment of my family, neighbors and people who live in my area. I am from Henry Township. That’s who I serve,“ Dittman said. 

Many of the community members fears included increased things like electricity rates, noise pollution, and harm to the agricultural industry and environment. Retired Akron firefighter Mike Gearhart was also among the concerned citizens at Tuesday’s meetings and stated his concerns about how the data center would effect local water levels. Like many of the residents at the meeting, Gearhart requested commissioners to take immediate action by revisiting the zoning changes and adding stronger protections for agricultural land.

Fulton County REMC Andrew Horstman also spoke during the meeting to remind community members of the importance of staying postive and accepting new things for growth in the area. Among the growth, Horstman said the data center would be able to fund things in the future like the update for the Akron water tower and more. 

Akron residents Dawson Honeycutt and James Zimmerman, however, disagreed with Horstman about the positive research he stated was shown on AI data centers, arguing the risks for their private property was not worth the gain the county may get. 

Commissioner Bryan Lewis thanked the community members for attending and urged Fulton County residents to attend meetings more regularly and be more involved with their voices in the future.

“I wish people were more involved before it got to this point, but I encourage people to reach out to me personally if you have any concerns, whether it be via email, phone call, whatever, I want to hear more from community members about their opinions,“ Lewis said. 

Ending the meeting with a round of applause, Lewis ultimately made a motion to send the zoning ordinances back to the county’s planning commission for further review, allowing the zoning changes to be reexamined in a public meeting.