Staff backs Royal 400 substation with buffer, screening and noise-study conditions

Alpharetta staff recommends approval of a utility substation for the Royal 400 Data Center at 4905 North Point Parkway, alongside a proposed 60,200-square-foot addition. The recommendation caps the existing data center and addition together at 245,200 square feet. It is not an approval of the substation.

The plan would place an approximately 64,000-square-foot substation near Kimball Bridge Road and reduce the site's undisturbed roadside buffer from 100 feet to 40 feet where needed for it. Staff recommends replanting sparse buffer areas, limiting the substation's screening walls to 22 feet, and requiring a noise study before a certificate of occupancy for the expansion. The recommended conditions would restrict the substation to serving this property.

According to the staff report, the applicant halted construction activity after Georgia Power requested an on-site substation. The report lists City Council consideration for October 26; it does not record a Planning Commission decision on the October 1 agenda item.