Union County Sole Commissioner Harold Collins officially enacted the Digital Infrastructure Hubs and Data Mining Ordinance following a second reading in his Aug. 20 regular meeting at the Union County Sports Complex.
Work on the ordinance has been ongoing for months, resulting in a greatly expanded version of the original four-page Cryptocurrency and Data Mining Ordinance that went into effect in 2023. The ordinance has been renamed to reflect a wider variety of facilities being regulated.
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North Georgia News — serving Union County since 1909.
Revisions are extensive. The draft ordinance grew to nine pages based on public feedback following the May 21 first reading, and after the massively attended June 11 public hearing, the draft grew again to 15 pages at adoption – almost quadruple the original ordinance length.
The final draft includes many strengthened provisions requested by residents, such as increasing the initially proposed 500 continues acres to 1,000 continuous acres for any proposed site; extending the property-line setback from half a mile to a full mile; requiring closed-loop cooling and 50% solar electricity; incorporating standards set forth in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024; and more.
Copies of the updated ordinance were handed out at the meeting. Residents who were unable to attend but want to review the enhanced regulations can request a copy at the Commissioner’s Office inside the Union County Courthouse.
Added to the agenda that morning was a resolution to submit an application requesting a $2 million grant from the Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank “to construct a roundabout on Blue Ridge Highway and committing to provide matching funds.”
If the state awards the grant, Collins plans to build a roundabout on Blue Ridge Highway at the busy intersections of Mulky Gap Road and Kiutuestia Creek Road.
The grant application was due the next day, which is why Collins added it to the agenda in the meeting. The Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank is the same state program that provided major grant funding to build the roundabout on Pat Haralson Drive.
Regarding matching funds for the potential Blue Ridge Highway project, the county would contribute $580,000 from SPLOST proceeds to help build the roundabout.
Collins also accepted a $1 million notice of award and contract for Colditz Trucking to do the Blue Ridge Street Improvement Project for the City of Blairsville. The county regularly assists the city with road projects, and Blairsville will reimburse the county with city SPLOST funds.
In another example of how SPLOST dollars are used locally, Collins accepted a $282,715 notice of award to replace the Union County Fire Department Rescue/Quick-Attack Fire Apparatus at Station 13, along with “additional custom items” selected by the Fire Department.
Among other business, the commissioner accepted an $8,500 agreement with Glenn Powers LLC to design a 26-by-18 canopy addition at the Union County Public Library to expand the usable space outside the building.
Collins welcomed returning guest speaker Alexis Noe, who operates the nonprofit Luke’s Space that provides local teens with a healthy, fun and free place to hang out, all with a goal of preventing substance abuse. For more information, visit www.lukesplaceblairsville.org.
Noe promoted the upcoming Luke’s Place Battle of the Bands set for Sept. 19, as well as an exciting support raffle that includes autographed items such as drumsticks from Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain, a guitar from Styx, and a hat from Steven Tyler of Aerosmith.
The commissioner also made two proclamations. The first recognized August 2026 as National Emergency Management Awareness Month, and Collins welcomed and thanked Union County Emergency Management Agency team members in attendance.
His second proclamation marked September 2026 as National Recovery Month, and recovery advocate Shawna Harkins invited everyone to Positive Pathways’ next Hope in the Mountains event on Sept. 12 from 4-8 p.m. at Meeks Park, organized to support local recovery efforts.
During public Q&A, a concern was raised about the restaurant at the county-owned Community Center still not being open for public dining, despite a one-year lease that the county signed in February.
County Attorney William Mercer said no one could force the operator of the restaurant to open public dining, and that the lease had to be honored for its duration regardless, though the county could choose to go with a different operator at the end of the lease term.
During a somewhat contentious exchange, Collins expressed that as long as the lease continues to be paid, versus the old arrangement in which the county was operating the restaurant at a significant loss, it was not his concern.
In other comments, a resident questioned the county taking 15 months to complete an audit of the 12 months for Fiscal Year 2025, as Collins recently announced that it will be March 2027 before the annual audit report is available, instead of the usual six months after the close of the fiscal year.
Be sure to read the separate front-page article about the Life Saving Commendation Awards presented by Union County Sheriff Shawn Dyer during the Aug. 20 meeting.
