The Effingham County, Ga., Board of Commissioners has put off a decision on the site plan for Project Camellia, the OpenAI data center campus proposed by Octans GA LLC near Rincon. At its Nov. 3 regular meeting, after a brief recess, the board voted unanimously to table the item until its next regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 17, WTOC reported.

County planning staff had recommended approval. According to agenda documents cited by WTOC's preview of the meeting, staff found that the application meets the standards of the county's I-1 industrial zoning district. The developer's representative also said the plan conforms to the existing I-1 zoning. Commissioners still declined to act that night. They pressed for a binding commitment on a 20-foot earthen berm along Hodgeville Road and asked about wetlands, cooling water and electrical demand.

The question on Nov. 3 was narrow: whether the county would approve the site plan for a use the developer says the existing I-1 zoning already allows. The county's Nov. 3 agenda on its Municode meetings portal listed the item as a site plan for "Project Camellia," a proposed data center development along Effingham Parkway and Gateway Parkway, zoned I-1.

The Berm Question

The sticking point was a 20-foot earthen berm. According to Construction Review Online, Commissioner Roger Burdette said he had been told a 20-foot berm would be built and that, without approval on it that night, he could not stand behind the site plan.

WTOC reported that Burdette pressed the developer's representative to commit on the record to an additional 20-foot earthen berm inside the buffer zone along Hodgeville Road in Area 4, and that the representative said he could not commit without consulting the development team. Construction Review Online reported that after the recess the representative promised the berm verbally, but the site plan before the board contained no written commitment. The board then voted to table. According to WTOC, commissioners said the delay would give the developer time to return with firm answers on wetland impacts and written assurances that the berm will be built along Hodgeville Road.

What the Developer Presented

Rich Modliszewski presented the plan for Octans GA LLC. WTOC reported that he described six compute buildings in two project areas:

  • Area 3: four buildings of 471,000 square feet each, plus a 100,000-square-foot warehouse and a 75,000-square-foot operations office, with a 300-foot natural wooded buffer separating the site from northern residential properties.
  • Area 4: two buildings of 471,000 square feet each, with a 300-foot wooded buffer along Hodgeville Road.

WTOC also reported that Modliszewski outlined several reductions from earlier versions. The original proposal of 30 million square feet in 30 buildings is now roughly three million to four million square feet in six buildings. Projected water consumption dropped from 100,000 gallons per day to 30,000 gallons per day with a closed-loop cooling system. Building height, however, rose from 35 feet to 42 feet. All of these figures come from the developer's presentation as WTOC reported it.

Construction Review Online listed the project's value as $20 billion. It reported that the developer's representative said generators on the campus would serve "life safety and security systems," not the data center buildings, and that OpenAI had previously committed to battery storage for backup power. The outlet also said he called the proposal a preliminary site plan and deferred most technical questions to engineers from Thomas & Hutton.

What the County's Agenda Documents Show

WTOC's preview, published the night of Nov. 2, cited the county agenda documents and staff report for more site details:

  • About 1,347 acres on two parcels in the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub near Rincon.
  • Access from Effingham Parkway, Gateway Parkway and Hodgeville Road.
  • Six data center buildings, labeled DC01 through DC06, each about 42 feet tall.
  • 1,608 parking spaces, including 250 for each data center building.
  • Vegetative buffers of 300 feet next to AR-1 (agricultural-residential) properties, 150 feet along commercial zones and 25 feet along industrial tracts.
  • Portions of the site in freshwater wetlands and in FEMA Zone AE floodplains, which WTOC said carry a 1% annual chance of flooding.

Sources disagree on the number of on-site electrical substations. WTOC, citing the staff report, said there would be three. Construction Review Online reported two. DataCenterFeed has not reviewed the site-plan packet to settle the difference. The Municode meetings portal also posts agendas, minutes and packets for the county's meetings.

Wetlands, Water and Power

Commissioner Beth Helmly raised concerns about electrical demand, cooling water sources and wetland mitigation, according to WTOC. WTOC reported that she questioned the exact acreage of wetlands that would be permanently disrupted after hearing that an additional 1.18 acres could be impacted. She said she did not feel comfortable voting that night and was not saying she would never vote for the plan.

Neither outlet reported a specific megawatt figure for the campus, and none was presented in the coverage reviewed for this article. The water figure of 30,000 gallons per day with closed-loop cooling is the developer's own, as WTOC reported it. Construction Review Online reported that commissioners also questioned water and sewer service, wetland impacts and generators.

Other Business: Zoning Map and a Possible Moratorium

The same night, commissioners approved the Effingham County Zoning Ordinance and adopted the official zoning map, according to Construction Review Online. The outlet also reported that Helmly announced the board would discuss a data center moratorium at its next meeting.

The coverage did not say what such a moratorium would cover or how it would interact with Project Camellia's pending site plan, and DataCenterFeed is not speculating on either point. WTOC reported that residents spoke during the public hearing portion of the meeting, with some expressing frustration over what they called a lack of transparency about the project.

Why a Site Plan Vote Matters Here

County staff found that the application meets I-1 standards, and the developer's representative said the plan conforms to the county's codes. WTOC reported that commissioners nonetheless sought enforceable guarantees, starting with the Hodgeville Road berm. The unanimous vote to table means the site plan remains pending, and no approval has been granted.

What Happens Next

The Project Camellia site plan is scheduled to return to the Effingham County Board of Commissioners at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2026, the date the board set when it voted unanimously to table the item, according to WTOC and Construction Review Online. Separately, Commissioner Helmly said a data center moratorium would be discussed at the board's next meeting, Construction Review Online reported. Agendas for county meetings are posted on the county's Municode meetings portal.

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