A new data center is coming to Fayette County, but neighbors don’t want the power poles it needs

FAYETTE COUNTY, Ga. — Several Fayette County homeowners say they want Georgia Power to stop construction regarding plans of installing multiple nearly 200-foot electrical poles in front of their properties. Homeowners say this would require them to sell a portion of their property.

“I can’t live next to those power lines,” homeowner Judy Drohn told Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Ashli Lincoln.

The City of Fayetteville approved the building of the Quality Technology Services data center, which is one of the largest in the nation, located along Highway 54. The 6.6 million square foot facility will host data for companies.

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In order to power this facility, Georgia Power will have to expand power lines in the area.

“We’re going to be affected by these high-powered voltage lines,” homeowner Sue Aldana told Lincoln.

Lincoln spoke with homeowners who voiced concerns about their property value, health impacts, and quality of life living near large power poles.

“It has been a nightmare since dealing with this,” Hanna Schilsky said.

Some homeowners say they were offered a few thousand dollars for several feet of their property.

“We got letters from Georgia Power with a $3,000 offer to accept our property, we had no input, into these powerlines,” Aldana said.

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Georgia Power says they’re currently seeking easement rights from homeowners. The company says a team of experts spent months looking for the best route. They considered factors like safety, reliability, time to construct and minimizing community impact when determining this location.

Georgia Power says those cases are rare. In this case, Georgia Power says they plan to continue speaking and negotiating with homeowners.

Georgia Power told Channel 2 Action News their land agents work directly with each property owner to negotiate easement purchases on each project, answer questions and work to find mutually acceptable terms for all involved. The route chosen was deemed to have less community impact since another potential route would have required several other homeowners to be completely displaced from their homes.

With an easement, Georgia Power says impacted property owners still own and have access to their property with only some restrictions, such as only planting lower-growing vegetation within the easement.

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