RICHMOND HILL – A Georgia-based digital infrastructure and Bitcoin mining company is looking at a site in Richmond Hill to build a data center.

Brian Crooks, Richmond Hill’s Director of Planning & Zoning, received an inquiry from Eric Yao, the CEO of LN Compute Inc., about the city’s data center use allowances and zoning requirements for about 19 acres located at 901 Belfast Commerce Center Dr., on Oct. 1, according to email records obtained by the Bryan County News. The land is located in Belfast Commerce Park and owned by the Development Authority of Bryan County.

The email included a project summary of the proposed data center, including that it would be an artificial intelligence/high performance computing (HPC) facility, with "a 30 megawatt facility, a single phase build, an approximately $150 million capital investment, 20 permanent job positions, no process emissions and no cryptocurrency mining".

Yao wrote that the facility “would use closed-loop liquid cooling with dry coolers, with no municipal water used for cooling and no groundwater withdrawal; water demand would be limited to sanitary use for approximately 20 staff.”

Richmond Hill does not currently have a specific data center ordinance. While the facilities are prohibited under the city’s unified development ordinance, there is more flexibility under the 2013 Belfast Commerce Center planned unit development.

Under the PUD, data centers aren’t a listed use, but any “other future new or unclassified uses, subject to meeting the intent of this planning area and approval by the City of Richmond Hill, could be allowed” but would require an appeal before Richmond Hill’s City Council to determine its applicability.

Yao wrote in an email that he also wrote to Ryan Purvis, CEO of the DABC, on the same day regarding acquisition of the parcel.

“I'm contacting your office in parallel so that we understand the City's zoning requirements before any land transaction,” he wrote.

Crooks responded to the inquiry in an email that the proposed data center is not an allowed use under the 2013 Belfast Commerce PUD and would require an appeal in front of the Board of Zoning Appeals.

“In the event you move forward in the process, I would be happy to discuss the procedural requirements and necessary steps for the appeal to determine if the speculated use is allowed,” Crooks wrote.

Yao wrote back that the company understands the procedural requirements and would like to move forward, requesting information about the Board of Zoning Appeals’ application requirements.

The developer must secure authorization from the land owner before submitting an application.

The Bryan County News has reached out to Purvis about the inquiry but has not yet received a response as of Tuesday evening.

This is a developing story.