Shadowbox Studios data center proposal

❓ Still unanswered

Nobody has answered these in public yet. Can you help find out?

• How big would the data center be? 🙋 I'll find out
• What will the court decide about the moratorium? 🙋 I'll find out

⚖️ Court case

Shadowbox Studios sued DeKalb County in August 2026, saying the county's data center pause is illegal and that planners told it three times in writing it could build a data center on its land. On September 9 the county zoning appeals board upheld the denial and left the fight to the courts.

✋ Turned down

After almost a year of protest, DeKalb County commissioners rejected a special land use permit for a 2 million square foot data center on 95 acres in Ellenwood, a mostly Black community already dealing with air pollution. County planners had recommended denial.

📜 Data center rules

DeKalb County commissioners voted down a proposed data center zoning ordinance after a year of work. Residents said the rules were not strong enough or would be hard to enforce. The draft sorted data centers into five size groups and kept big ones away from homes, parks and transit.

⏸️ Pause on new data centers

DeKalb County paused new data center applications in July 2025 to write rules, and has extended the pause several times. On July 7, 2026 commissioners extended it into early 2027 and asked county departments like public safety, roads and public health to study how data centers would affect them. The county cannot take new data center applications until March 30, 2027.