Project Arrowhead data center, Ocilla, Georgia

The Irwin County Board of Commissioners voted 5 to 0 on May 20, 2026 to grant a special exception for Project Arrowhead, a data center campus planned for farm and forest land near Ocilla in south central Georgia. The developer, Premier Data Center Development LLC, plans five buildings totaling 4.22 million square feet on about 1,000 acres outside the community of Mystic, with up to 1.25 gigawatts of capacity and up to $6 billion invested. The first phase could open in 2030, with the campus complete by 2034.

Georgia Power is carrying out an energy study for the site. The state filing of April 10, 2026 covers about 1,066 acres across five parcels and gives water use of 0.05 million gallons a day from the Floridan Aquifer, wastewater of 0.03 million gallons a day treated on site and discharged under permit, 200 full-time jobs and $20 million a year in local taxes.

The land belongs to the Fletcher Marcus D Trust and Sirrom Farms LLC. Part of it was first proposed as the Irwin Forward Tech Park, a 17-building project the applicant withdrew in March 2026 even though the county planning commission had recommended approval. That first application, by James Russell Bryant for the Marcus D. Fletcher Trust, covered about 546 acres zoned agricultural, and it came as the county moved in February to dissolve its industrial development authority, which officials said was unrelated.

Residents asked then about traffic, noise from cooling equipment, rural roads and groundwater in drought, while officials noted the site might use less water than the center-pivot irrigation already on farmland. Fifteen people sent comments on the new application, all opposed, citing the aquifer, power bills, farmland, habitat and the small number of jobs.

The Georgia Water Coalition said this would be "the first data center in Georgia that we are aware of that will withdraw water directly from the Floridan Aquifer." WWALS Watershed Coalition, led by Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman, asked for the water estimate to be checked independently and warned that the treated wastewater "is likely to be a significant tributary of the Alapaha River, especially in drought conditions."

Irwin County's own ordinance permits only closed loop cooling and requires an independent hydrogeologic study before a certificate of occupancy is issued. At the special called meeting, Commissioner Don Hickey, on the phone, moved approval, Aldene Tyson seconded, and Chair Vince Thompson, Paul McIntyre and Chris Paulk joined them.

Asked about water, Thompson said the filing specified 50,000 gallons a day but that commissioners "didn't get all the questions like that answered" on their site visit. County attorney James Banner said enforcement beyond a $1,000-a-day fine could include withholding a certificate of occupancy or seeking an injunction.

After the meeting the applicants said they had no end customer yet, only two or three candidates; a Change.org petition started by Audrey Wynn on February 4, 2026 against a 1-gigawatt Google data center in the county had drawn 926 signatures by then. Any certificate of occupancy will still require the independent hydrogeologic study the county's ordinance calls for, and Georgia Power's energy study for the site continues.