Commissioners in Lee County, Georgia, have pushed back the end of the county's pause on data center development for a second time. The pause covers the unincorporated parts of the county, whose seat is Leesburg in southwest Georgia. At its Nov. 10, 2026 meeting, the Lee County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution extending the moratorium on zoning, rezoning, development, permitting and construction of data centers to June 30, 2027, WALB reported. The current moratorium had been set to expire Dec. 31, 2026.
The same meeting's agenda packet also included a parallel resolution extending a separate moratorium on battery energy storage systems (BESS) to the same date. The two pauses now share an end date, but they started at different times and the county's resolutions give different wording for each.
What the Board Approved
The data center resolution appears as agenda item H in the county's packet. Its text sets out the history of the moratorium. The board adopted Resolution No. 2025-20 on Dec. 9, 2025. On June 9, 2026, Resolution 2026-12 moved the termination date from July 30, 2026 to Dec. 31, 2026. The new resolution extends the moratorium for an additional six months, until June 30, 2027 "at midnight."
According to the resolution, the board determined that additional time is needed for the county and its staff to review and prepare legally proper provisions for the county code, and county staff will keep drafting an ordinance on the proper location and regulation of data centers. The moratorium is not tied to a fixed date alone. WALB reported that if the county adopts a data center ordinance before then, the moratorium ends automatically.
The copy of the resolution in the agenda packet has blank signature and date lines, because it was included as a proposed measure before the vote. WALB reported that the extension was approved at the Tuesday, Nov. 10 meeting.
Chairman Luke Singletary told WALB that the current moratorium was set to expire Dec. 31. He said the extension gives the county a little more time for some public input and to fine-tune the draft ordinance. "We're almost done," Singletary said, according to the station. WALB also reported that leaders said they hope to gather more public comment and information before adopting an ordinance.
The packet lists Singletary as chairman, Chris Guarnieri as vice-chairman, Dennis Roland among the commissioners, and Scott Addison as county manager.
The Battery Storage Pause
Agenda item G is a separate resolution on battery energy storage systems. The packet shows that the BESS moratorium started with Resolution No. 2026-07, adopted March 10, 2026, and was later amended by Resolution No. 2026-25.
The BESS resolution cites "numerous complications" with adopting ordinances on the zoning, rezoning, development, permitting and construction of battery storage systems. Like the data center measure, it moves the end date from Dec. 31, 2026 to June 30, 2027. WALB's report covered the data center vote. The sources reviewed for this article do not separately report the outcome of the BESS item.
How the Data Center Pause Has Changed
The first extension moved the end date back five months, and the second moves it back another six:
- Dec. 9, 2025: Resolution No. 2025-20 adopts the data center moratorium.
- June 9, 2026: Resolution 2026-12 moves the end date from July 30, 2026 to Dec. 31, 2026.
- Nov. 10, 2026: The board approves a second extension, to June 30, 2027.
The county documents and WALB's coverage do not mention any pending data center application in Lee County. The county's resolution describes the extension as time to prepare the ordinance.
A Regional Pattern in Southwest Georgia
Lee County's moratorium was cited by a neighboring county. In July 2026, the Albany Herald reported that commissioners in neighboring Terrell County had unanimously adopted their own six-month data center moratorium, under the headline "Following Lee's lead, Terrell County hits pause on data centers." The Herald said county officials specifically referenced Lee County, where commissioners had earlier in the year approved a temporary moratorium while considering development standards.
Terrell County's chairman, W.T. Gamble III, told the Herald that large data centers "sometimes bring $20 million or $30 million a year in property tax," according to the newspaper. The Herald also reported that no formal data center proposal had been submitted in Terrell County at that time, and described the county as joining a growing number of local governments choosing to establish rules before developers come calling. That July report predates the Nov. 10 Lee County vote and does not address it.
What the Moratorium Covers
According to WALB, the pause applies to unincorporated areas of Lee County. It covers zoning, rezoning, development, permitting and construction of data centers. The resolution does not set out the ordinance's eventual standards; it says only that staff will continue drafting an ordinance on the proper location and regulation of data centers during the moratorium.
What Happens Next
Under the resolution as described in the county's agenda packet and by WALB, county staff will continue drafting the data center ordinance. The data center moratorium now ends at midnight on June 30, 2027, or earlier and automatically if the county adopts a data center ordinance before then. Singletary told WALB the extra time is meant for some public input and fine-tuning. The sources reviewed do not give a date for a public hearing or a vote on the ordinance. The BESS moratorium in the agenda packet runs to the same June 30, 2027 end date.
