In rural Upatoi, in northeastern Muscogee County, a proposed hyperscale AI data center is suddenly looming over a quiet patch of family history. Within sight of the project site sits a roughly 15-acre cemetery parcel that Debbie Jackson tends, a family plot she says holds about 22 marked graves. Jackson, who learned about the development only in February, now finds herself at the center of a fight as officials draft special zoning rules and neighbors debate whether to stay put, sell, or push the city for stronger protections.
Known as Project Ruby, the data center is being pitched as a four-building hyperscale campus spread across roughly 900 to 987 acres, bundled as a more-than-$5.18 billion investment that could eventually require hundreds of megawatts of power. Public filings and regional notices say the buildout would roll out in phases between 2027 and 2030, with initial power deliveries and infrastructure work starting in the next decade, according to Data Center Dynamics.
Jackson says her husband’s family has held the land since the mid-1800s and that the cemetery includes Civil War-era graves and what she believes may be unmarked burials as well. The scale of the nearby proposal, she adds, has thrown her household finances and long-term plans into limbo. The local Planning Advisory Commission tried to soften the blow, voting 5 to 1 to expand Project Ruby’s proposed buffer from 75 feet to 500 feet, but Jackson calls that step nowhere near enough. Her account, along with those meeting results, was reported by local outlets and summarized by Realtor.com.
Neighbors Push Back as Council Considers Overlay Rules
In March, the fight moved squarely into public view. Dozens of residents packed council chambers and community forums to demand clearer protections, while opponents gathered thousands of signatures on a petition challenging the project. Columbus officials are now drafting a technology overlay district that would set the basic ground rules before any formal rezoning application arrives. Some council members have warned that if the city regulates too aggressively, Project Ruby could simply hop the border and land just across the Talbot County line instead.
Local reporting describes residents calling for a single, all-hands public meeting that would bring the developer, utilities and Columbus Waterworks to the same table so people can get straight answers without playing phone tag. According to The Georgia Sun, that kind of joint session has become a key demand as the overlay rules take shape.
Power, Water and the Practical Headaches
Industry trackers and filings show that Project Ruby has requested a method-of-service and grid capacity study with Flint Energies for up to 600 megawatts of power, delivered in phases, a level that would require major upgrades to regional transmission and distribution systems. Choose Columbus has said the developer would contribute toward water and sewer infrastructure, but residents are still uneasy about daily water use and what it could mean for nearby creeks and wetlands. Those capacity figures and the project’s footprint are documented in industry databases and reporting. See Data Center Map.
If the developer moves ahead with private funding, neighbors’ most effective leverage points will be the zoning process, archaeological surveys, and sustained public pressure. Litigation, experts caution, is expensive and often unsuccessful unless officials mishandle procedure or certain federal triggers come into play. “If the local municipality process for approval has been followed and completed, the best opportunity for challenging the data center has passed,” Howard Jacobson of Stronglast Builders told Realtor.com.
Land-use attorney Jillian Hishaw has urged residents to engage early with preservation officials and to pay close attention to how the project is financed, noting that funding sources can change what legal options are available. For now, Project Ruby has not received final approvals, and city leaders say more public meetings and additional studies will help decide what happens next, both for the data center and for the family cemetery in its shadow.
