AI and data centers figure in incentive-code package

Artificial intelligence, machine learning and data centers appear among the industries targeted for incentives in an exhibit accompanying Powder Springs’ economic-development code amendment. City Council adopted the amendment, ORD 26-014, in a 5–0 vote on Oct. 5, 2026.⁠[1][2][3]

The exhibit describes potential relief from business-license, building-permit and site or structural-review fees, subject to restrictions in the city’s adopted incentives plan. It also lists expedited plan review and assistance with state tax credits among possible forms of technical help.⁠[3]

Being in a target industry would not, under that framework, automatically deliver a deal. The exhibit requires the mayor and council to approve an incentive by resolution before an agreement is executed. It also requires the proposed development to match the city’s comprehensive plan and future land-use map.⁠[3]

The exhibit assigns performance requirements and repayment terms to the incentives plan and individual agreement—including consequences when a recipient fails to create the jobs or make the capital investment on which an incentive was based.⁠[3]

Its confidentiality language has an explicit limit, too. Although it bars disclosing a candidate’s name or specific development before an official public announcement, it says that provision creates no exemption under the Georgia Open Records Act.⁠[3]

The vote amended the incentive program; it was not a documented award to a particular business or approval of a data-center project. The records reviewed do not verify the final enacted wording or establish which provisions were newly added. The terms described here are those in the accompanying exhibit.⁠[1][2][3]