Columbus city council has another packed public agenda for Tuesday March 24, 2026. There are twenty people scheduled to appear on tonight’s public agenda. The vast majority of speakers oppose building a hyperscale data center in Muscogee County.
The $5B dollar proposed data center dubbed Project Ruby has generated nothing but controversy since the proposal was announced by Choose Columbus, an economic development arm of Columbus. The data center would be located on more than 900 acres of property on Layfield Road in the Upatoi area of Muscogee County.
Everyone from neighbors to the proposed data center to citizens to candidates for public office have appeared at city council and other public forums to vehemently oppose the data center due to environmental concerns and the energy and water required to run such a project among other objections.
Despite the city’s best effort to host forums, town halls and entertain questions and answers during council meetings the opposition to a data center appears to be growing by the day with some suggesting a referendum on the project be put on the ballot. The city council is not scheduled to vote or approve any measures associated with Project Ruby at tonight’s meeting.
