QTS proposes six‑building data center near Haines Station; major permits still pending

QTS and Augusta City officials presented the proposed data‑center campus and answered residents’ questions at a town‑hall focusing on project scale, water use, timeline and remaining approvals.

A QTS representative told the meeting that the campus will include six data‑center buildings and estimated 1,000 construction jobs and about 160–220 permanent on‑site positions, mostly data‑center technicians. The company said construction will be staged over several years and that the first building’s construction timing is not fixed: QTS staff described tree clearing and grading as imminent and said a first building could begin in a later phase. "We will require at least 1,000 construction jobs," the QTS representative said, and the company described permanent roles as mission‑critical, on‑site positions.

On water use and cooling, QTS told attendees the facilities employ closed‑loop HVAC systems that require a single initial fill and only routine office‑type water use afterward. "18,000,000 gallons a day is not accurate. It's 18,000 gallons a day maximum use," the QTS representative said, attributing earlier larger figures to a misplaced decimal in circulated reports. The company described the initial fill as roughly "slightly less than four Olympic sized pools" and said routine operational water needs would be comparable to an office building after that fill.

Augusta planning staff detailed the project's permitting history and what remains. Amanda Cruz of Planning and Development summarized rezoning and review milestones beginning with a rezoning in 2022 under a previous developer (T5) and subsequent resubmissions after QTS acquired the site. Cruz said the developer has satisfied a remediation requirement for an on‑site inert landfill and received notification from Georgia EPD that waste removal was complete in December 2025, but that grading and building permits have not been issued. "They still have to submit for Army Corps of Engineers approval for wetland impacts and receive other required permits; until those approvals and site‑plan reviews are complete we will not approve permanent construction permits," Cruz said.

On power, Kerry Bridges of Georgia Power said state planning and recent Public Service Commission orders have required large customers to pay costs to serve and that the utility has added generation capacity to meet demand. Bridges told the meeting that a December 2025 PSC decision approved adding 10,000 megawatts and that the utility expects the large‑customer framework to protect other customers while accommodating big loads.

QTS and city staff said additional technical details — generator siting, exact generator counts and noise projections, and detailed environmental modeling — are part of later site‑plan and permitting submissions. QTS committed to posting the site plan and answers to frequently asked questions on a project web page and to returning for further community meetings; city staff scheduled a follow‑up session in May to continue engagement.