Public Hearing: YES ☒ NO ☐ Department: Planning & Sustainability
SUBJECT:
Title
COMMISSION DISTRICT(S): Commission District 03 Super District 06
Application of PCC-DeKalb, LLC c/o Steven L. Jones, Taylor Duma, LLC for a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) to allow utility structures for the transmission or distribution of services in the RSM (Small Lot Residential Mix) and MU-1 (Mixed-Use Low Density) zoning districts, the Bouldercrest Overlay District, Tier 5, and the Soapstone Historic District, 4280 & 4358 Loveless Place; and, 2281 Pineview Trail.
Body
PETITION NO: D4-2025-0970 SLUP-25-1247635
PROPOSED USE: To allow utility structures for the transmission or distribution of services.
LOCATION: 4280 and 4358 Loveless Place; 2281 Pineview Trail, Ellenwood, GA 30294
PARCEL NO. : 15 011 01 045; 15 011 01 062; 15 011 01 263
INFO. CONTACT: John Reid, Sr. Planner
PHONE NUMBER: 404-371-2155
PURPOSE:
Application of PCC-DeKalb, LLC c/o Steven L. Jones, Taylor Duma, LLC for a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) to allow utility structures for the transmission or distribution of services in the RSM (Small Lot Residential Mix) and MU-1 (Mixed-Use Low Density) zoning districts, the Bouldercrest Overlay District, Tier 5, and the Soapstone Historic District.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
COMMUNITY COUNCIL: (August 2025) Denial.
PLANNING COMMISSION: (Sept. 9, 2025) Denial.
PLANNING STAFF: (November 2025) Denial. (September 2025) 30-Day Deferral_09.26.2025.
STAFF ANALYSIS: Denial_11.10.2025. This case was deferred from the September 30, 2025 Board of Commissioners meeting to allow time for the Law Department to review allegations from the applicant’s legal counsel regarding whether a major modification of conditions to the 2018 zoning conditions of the property was required. At the time of this writing the Law Department was still in review of this item. Additionally, Staff had requested additional information related to “employment traffic” referenced in the SLUP application as well as requested a copy of their proposed SLUP conditions that they discussed at the Sept 30th public hearing. The applicant has submitted the proposed zoning conditions from the September 30th BOC meeting as well as more information regarding their proposed sound attenuation fences (see attached). However, at the time of this writing Staff had not received the requested employment traffic information. The subject properties fall within Tier 5 of the Bouldercrest Overlay District (BOD), the Soapstone Historic District, and the MU-1 and RSM underlying zoning districts. Additionally, the Board of Commissioners (BOC) approved zoning conditions on the subject properties as well as a portion of the properties to the north (see attached CZ-17- 21828) in 2018. These 2018 zoning conditions were based on a site plan which designates the subject properties in this utility structure application for residential units. The applicant's site plan depicts a one (1) million square foot "Data Center" campus with an outdoor electric substation on a 95-acre site. While the BOD land use table does not include a "Data Center" land use category, it appears that the applicant has indicated the most similar land use in the BOD is "utility structure for transmission of service". Staff contends that given the proposed site plan for 1 million square feet of building area, the proposed use is most similar to "Warehousing and Storage" which is a prohibited use in Tier 5. Additionally, there is no "utility structure" land use in the underlying land use table of Article 4 of the Zoning Ordinance, but the most similar land uses are "electric transformer station" and "warehousing and storage". An electric transformer station is not defined in the Zoning Ordinance, however based on research it is essentially the same as an electric substation and is only allowed in M and M-2 industrial zones. "Warehousing and storage" is only allowed in OD (office distribution), M and M-2 industrial zoning districts. The proposed one (1) million square foot campus with an outdoor electric substation would fall under the "Data Center, Campus" land use category of the data center text amendment proposed by Planning Department Staff since the proposed use is larger than 20,000 square feet (1 million square feet proposed) and requires an electric substation. While this SLUP application is not subject to the proposed standards of the data center text amendment since that amendment has not been adopted by the Board of Commissioners, it should be noted that the proposed text amendment would require all "Data Center, Campus" land uses to locate in industrial zoning districts (M & M-2) with a SLUP. The property falls within a Suburban (SUB) Character Area of the 2050 Comprehensive Plan, which calls for preservation of established subdivisions and small-scale infill such as cottage court development, accessory housing units and other innovative housing types to increase housing choice and income diversity without significantly altering established neighborhood development patterns (Suburban Character Area, Land Use Compatibility, page 41). The properties fall within Tier 5 of the BOD. Tier 5 is a predominantly single-family residential area, and the purpose and intent of the BOD is to protect established residential areas from encroachment of incompatible or adverse uses, and to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of DeKalb County (Sec 3.39.1.A.18). Tier 5 prohibits all office, transportation, storage (including self-storage, storage yard, and warehousing and storage”), service, commercial, and industrial uses, as those uses due to their intensity and/or form are deemed to not be compatible with single-family residential uses. While "utility structures" are allowed as a SLUP in Tier 5 of the Bouldercrest Overlay (BOD), the proposed planned data center as noted on the applicant’s site plan is not a utility structure as the word is commonly understood, since it appears to require much larger building footprints and a much larger strain on community resources (electricity and water) to operate than standard utility structures. Additionally, the existing zoning conditions (CZ-17-21828) on the subject properties are based on a site plan which call for residential uses. Residential is more consistent with the SUB Character Area of the DeKalb County 2050 Comp Plan to provide more diverse and affordable housing. Based on the above information, the application does not appear to comply with the SUB Character Area of the 2050 Comprehensive Plan nor the purpose and intent of Tier 5 of the BOD. Furthermore, Staff has not received additional information related to "employment traffic" referenced in the application related to how much building square footage is devoted to office use and how many employees will be working to determine impact on required parking spaces on the subject site and potential traffic impacts on access through the abutting single-family residential area in Clayton County Therefore, based on review of Sections 7.4.6.B (Compatibility of proposed use with adjacent properties), 7.4.6.D (Adequacy of public street on which the proposed use is to be located), 7.4.6.H (consistency with policies of the comprehensive plan), and Section 7.4.6.N (whether proposed use is consistent with needs of the neighborhood) of the DeKalb County Zoning Ordinance, it is the recommendation of the Planning Department that the application be “Denied”.
PLANNING COMMISSION VOTE: (September 9, 2025) Denial 7-1-0. Commissioner Moore moved, Commissioner Murphy seconded for denial, per Staff recommendation. Commissioner Patton opposed; Commissioner Costello was not present for this vote.
COMMUNITY COUNCIL VOTE/RECOMMENDATION: (Denial 6-3-0) Council discussion included concerns that the use was in the middle of a single-family residential area and that there were no adopted regulations for utility structures or data centers.