Planners back Royal 400’s substation—and add a 12-foot sculpture

Royal 400’s proposed power substation has won a 6–0 recommendation from Alpharetta’s Planning Commission—with an added requirement for public art. Commissioners’ Oct. 1 recommendation calls for a sculpture at least 12 feet tall at Kimball Bridge Road and North Point Parkway, subject to Cultural Arts Commission approval.⁠[1]

That is a recommendation, not final council authorization. GI Partners is seeking substation and screening approvals for its existing data-center property at 4905 North Point Parkway. The expansion already has permission; the applicant says it is not seeking data-center floor area beyond the existing entitlement.⁠[1][2]

The buffer reduction we previously reported remains in the recommendation: along the affected portion of Kimball Bridge Road, the required undisturbed strip would shrink from 100 feet to 40 feet. Screening walls on the data-center property could reach 22 feet, subject to Design Review Board approval.⁠[1]

The power requirement interrupted construction, according to the city’s staff report. Citing the applicant, it says Georgia Power requested an on-site substation after expansion work began under an August 2024 land-disturbance permit. The applicant then stopped construction pending the substation request. Staff describes a 60,200-square-foot addition; the substation’s roughly 64,000-square-foot footprint would be slightly larger.⁠[1]

Moving the substation out of sight came with another tree cost. Staff encouraged an alternate location south of the existing building, but says connecting it to the power easement would require a 300-foot-wide corridor for overhead lines and maintenance, affecting hundreds of trees on the North Point Parkway side.⁠[1]

The proposed location still affects trees. The report identifies a 36-inch specimen water oak for removal for the building addition and separately estimates tree impacts within the substation’s approximately 1.5-acre footprint. Staff concludes the proposal would not adversely affect the natural environment, saying the property has room for required replacement planting.⁠[1]

Across Kimball Bridge Road, the recommendation would replace the applicant’s wall concept with a 20-foot-wide planted buffer along Georgia Power’s existing substation frontage. Other conditions would restrict the new substation to this property, prohibit additional connections and require a noise-compliance study before the expansion receives its certificate of occupancy. That is a proposed verification requirement—not a completed noise finding.⁠[1]

Alpharetta City Council’s public hearing is scheduled for Oct. 26 at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall’s council chambers, 2 Park Plaza. The Georgia city’s agenda schedules consideration of the requests; it does not establish final approval.⁠[2]