When I began this Substack three and a half years ago, it was to share my journey in learning how to become an advocate who put God first. Trusting that ultimately He is in control and still show up to do the work. My husband and I had lived through an intense 2 year legislative advocacy battle that left us wondering what was the point of it all. I was willing to offer my skills, to be the hands and feet, but not at the expense of my peace.
Now engaged in the battle to protect my neighborhood from the physical & environmental impacts of an AI surveillance center, I’m practicing implementing what I’ve learned. This week, I finally got around to reviewing the proposed data center ordinance for Floyd County. Knowing that concerns around noise, particularly low frequency noise is a concern of many of my neighbors and fellow citizens, I began seeking answers. I shouldn’t be surprised that God answered. Out of the thousands of documents on the web, in my third keyword search, the 2nd link down, a pdf of a sound study appeared and drew me in. We do need to make a move before we receive the revelation. Jesus tells us: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8, NIV) A quick scan of the document and the required classes that I took in audiometry over 30 years ago as part of my speech therapy degree started to take on a new purpose.
What is missing in the proposed Floyd County data center ordinance as well as in any of the other noise ordinances I reviewed in consulting the Georgia Data Center Ordinance Hub compiled by Georgia Tech is a metric requiring the use of a C scale weighted sound pressure level measurement. In this graphic of a digital SPL meter I found on Amazon, it explains the different scales. A weighted is “suitable for environment noise detection.” C weighted is “suitable for industrial noise detection.”
I attended the Rome/Floyd Planning Commission meeting on August 6, 2026 and spoke in favor of the ordinances at the hearing for “a ULDC ordinance amendment related to Data Centers.” You can listen to my remarks here:
On Friday, August 7th, I followed up with this email to Brice Wood, Planning Director proposing language changes to the draft ordinances. He has sent it off for legal review. In the meantime, if you live in Floyd County and believe that these edits could help protect citizens from unnecessary industrial noise pollution, please reach out to the Floyd County Commissioners and ask that they add specificity to the noise component of the ordinance.
Brice:
Thank you again for all of the work that you and your team are doing with these data center ordinances. After reflecting on comments made during the hearing at the planning commission meeting yesterday, I have drafted some proposed language changes which I share below. In addition, you will find notes regarding justification and responses to concerns noted by the planning commission. I’m attaching the original letter sent to the planning commission on August 5th as it contains information that my remarks below build upon. I’m also attaching the sound study that I reference and spoke about during public comments yesterday.
Would you kindly forward this to the attorneys and also the Floyd County Commissioners. I did speak with Commissioner Wallace [Watters] (klm 8/12/26) after the hearing yesterday and she did express an interest in seeing the information that I had shared with the planning commission.
Thank you,
Kristie
Proposed language changes to ordinance in bold italics:
(e) Environmental, Energy, and Noise Standards.
2. A study prepared by an acoustical engineer that describes the anticipated noise level of the facility
An acoustic/noise studyshall be a condition of Special Use approval. Acoustic/noise minimizing walls may be required on main buildings and shall be required around outdoor generator areas, regardless of any noise study. Based on the USEPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) and ANSI (American National Standards Institute) S12.9 Part 4 guidance for limiting sound level impacts to the surrounding community, the Project design goal is to limit Project-generated sound levels to 55 dB(A) Ldn / 48.6 dB(A) Leq and 68 dB(C) at the nearest residential [or school] structure surrounding the Project.3. Noise generated by any equipment, operations, or activities associated with a data center, including but not limited to cooling systems and emergency backup generators, shall not exceed 65 dB(A) and 68 dB(C) during daytime hours (7:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.)* or 55 dB(A) and 68 dB(C) during nighttime hours (7:00 p.m.–7:00 a.m.), as measured at the property line where the site adjoins residentially or agriculturally zoned property. This noise requirement shall include periods when backup generators are in use.
3a. The data center operator must submit an annual third-party noise study to the County every year for the first seven years of operation. This study must demonstrate no increase in property line noise levels out of compliance with the county ordinance. **
* Based on recommendation of planning commission 8/6/2026
**(Based on ordinance out of Fairburn, GA)
Justification:
2. Without including targeted goals that are based on standards that will hold up in court, a study for the sake of saying a study was completed does nothing to protect the citizens. Without defining who is qualified to complete the study, the County is opening the doors to trusting the industry that they had competent people holding the sound pressure level (SPL) meters and analyzing whatever data they capture. The proposed added language makes it clear that there is not an expectation that County staff will be responsible for determining dBA Leq or dBA Ldn as this can only be done by qualified acoustical engineers and required in the planning stage for special use approval. Furthermore, this target goal taken directly from a sound study completed in Georgia in January of 2025 for a new power station includes that the measurements are to be taken at the nearest residential structure (not other heavy industrial building). Since the County is allowing a data center next to a school, I’ve inserted the language in brackets.
3. To address the concern that there needs to be a way for staff to easily monitor ongoing compliance, it is very simple. If staff can use an SPL meter and gauge a digital number on an A scale, they should be able to do the same with the meter switched to the C scale. I found one such SPL meter on Amazon for $25.99.
3a. Citizens do not trust the developers and corporations that are building the data centers. They don’t trust that they will see a decline in their property taxes. They believe that once they have surpassed the hurdles to build and are allowed in, they will do what they want and leave citizens with no recourse. By adding an ongoing requirement for noise studies for several years after they become operational, this will help assure citizens that you are hearing their concerns and have an active plan in place to aggressively monitor.
In response to stated concerns:
· Regarding Brice’s comment that the attorneys are worried about lawsuits from corporations if we enact a policy that includes a C weighted scale, I believe that I have demonstrated above a way to address these concerns. Furthermore, the fact that the County is more concerned about lawsuits from big corporations than doing what is right for their citizens is precisely why the voters do not trust our elected officials who listen more to the attorneys than to their constituents.
· Regarding Planning Commission Vice Chair, Brandie Townsend’s remarks that 68dB is 3 higher than the 65dB that is in the draft ordinance demonstrates a complete lack of understanding regarding my point of the difference in scales. She disregarded the measurement scale that went with the numbers. As I shared in my letter to the Planning Commission on August 5th: The A-weighting scale was developed to simulate the frequency response of the human ear to sounds at typical environmental levels. The C-weighting scale has more of an emphasis on low frequency content than the A-weighting scale and is generally used to describe the low frequency characteristics of sound levels (e.g., “rattling” or “rumbling” associated with sound levels). (Source: Oglethorpe Sound Study SMARR Power Generation Station, Revision 1, January 13, 2025 found on the web at Rural Development, USDA for the combined cycle project in Monroe County, GA.) There was ample testimony during the public hearing on August 6th that spoke to my point of citizen concerns regarding low frequency noise.
· Regarding Planning Commission Chairman, Charles Love’s questioning of whether or not noise is even an issue is pushback that we have been receiving throughout this process. We heard similar comments from Rome City Commissioners Bill Collins and Craig McDaniel during the Parkview Baptist Church meeting on 10/2/25. First, it is obvious by the fact that it is now standard procedure for localities adopting data center ordinances to include a noise component means that the citizens of Floyd County aren’t alone in their concerns. Second, if noise isn’t an issue then great, the data centers won’t have a problem meeting the reasonable standards that I have included in the suggested language changes above.
· Regarding Planning Commission Chairman, Charles Love’s concern that we could be seen as “picking on one industry” by adopting ordinances not imposed on other industries, I say the citizens of Floyd County didn’t create that problem. The fact that our elected officials chose to rezone parcels to heavy industrial to accommodate the desires of the data center developers is the problem.
The draft ordinance, though it has a noise component, does nothing to address the concern of the citizens worried about the potential health impacts of continuous low frequency noise. It is an easy fix and I implore the County Commissioners to amend the proposed data center ordinance to include the language above. I’d be happy to speak at a Commission caucus and clarify any questions.
Thank you,
Kristie L. Miner, MS, SLP
kristieminer@yahoo.com
Additional notes:
· The above suggestions may not be enough to help the students, faculty, and staff at Coosa Middle and High Schools as the County attorney has not clarified if these ordinances will apply to Atlas Development’s Project Gracie, already in the works.
· The above suggestions do not apply to the noise generated during the construction phase of the data centers which is sure to also generate citizen concerns.
Resources:
Oglethorpe Sound Study, Smarr Power Generation Station, January 13, 2025, Monroe County, Georgia
1982, The US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Noise Abatement and Control, Guidelines for Noise Impact Analysis