Opportunity Overview
The Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA), through the OneGeorgia Authority, is administering the FY 2027 Rural Site Development Initiative to help rural Georgia communities identify, certify, and improve industrial sites needed for economic development. Approximately $20 million is available through competitive semiannual cycles, subject to funding availability.
Funding
Due-diligence studies are limited to $250,000. Site Improvement grants are limited to $2 million per application and development. Applications below $50,000 are generally not accepted, although the Authority reserves discretion to waive minimum and maximum limits.
Match
Applicants in OneGeorgia Eligible communities should generally contribute at least a 10% match to the grant amount requested. Applicants in Conditionally Eligible communities must generally contribute at least a 25% match. Local public and private investment also affects competitiveness.
Eligibility and Site Requirements
Eligible applicants include units of general-purpose local government and local, regional, and state authorities for activities in OneGeorgia Eligible or Conditionally Eligible counties. Sites must be at least 50 contiguous acres and publicly controlled at application. If not publicly owned, the development authority must hold an option to purchase extending for at least three years. Site Improvement applicants must have a GRAD-certified or GRAD Select site. Due-diligence applicants must commit to seeking GRAD certification.
Eligible Activities
Eligible work includes grading, clearing, grubbing, infrastructure development, road improvements, acceleration/deceleration lanes, engineering, purchase of adjacent or expansion property, easements, and due-diligence studies. Developments must comply with state environmental and historic-preservation requirements. OneGeorgia-improved property under this program may not be used for solar farms, data centers, or mini-storage facilities.
Application Process and Timing
Applicants must first contact the Site Development Program Manager for an initial meeting. A required pre-application is due 30 days before the full application deadline and is provided to eligible applicants after initial review. Full applications are submitted online and must include, at minimum, a preliminary engineering report and commitment letters for all local match funding.
The published FY 2027 full-application deadlines are October 9, 2026 and April 9, 2027. Because the October cycle required a pre-application 30 days earlier, it is no longer a practical new-applicant target as of September 21, 2026. The next practical full-application target is April 9, 2027, with the required pre-application due March 10, 2027. The current NOFA does not publish an exact closing clock time or time zone, so none is inferred.
Atlas Candidate Intelligence
Washington-Wilkes Payroll Development Authority is a high-priority candidate for the next Site Improvement cycle. In June 2025 the Authority received a $142,450 RSDI GRAD-certification scholarship for the Washington-Wilkes Industrial Park Expansion. On September 17, 2026, the Georgia Department of Economic Development announced that the 488-acre Wilkes County Industrial Park West had achieved GRAD Select status. The current OneGeorgia eligibility map places Wilkes County in the Eligible category. This progression aligns with the current NOFA, which expressly permits a prior due-diligence award recipient to seek Site Improvement funding in a subsequent cycle after achieving GRAD certification.
September 23, 2026 candidate watch: Current local reporting states that the Wilkes County Payroll Development Authority voted September 18 to grant CleanSpark an option through April 2027 to acquire a 100-acre Reynolds tract for a potential data-center project. The current FY2027 RSDI NOFA expressly restricts use of OneGeorgia-improved property for data centers. Atlas has not established that the Reynolds tract is the same property as, overlaps, or otherwise encumbers Wilkes County Industrial Park West, so no such relationship is inferred. Because parcel identity is material to program compliance, Washington-Wilkes remains fail-closed for applicant-specific outreach and package production until the Authority confirms that the CleanSpark option does not affect the GRAD Select site proposed for RSDI work.
Before outreach or package work, Atlas must verify the exact site identity across the 2025 award, the current GRAD Select designation, and the newly reported Reynolds-tract option; current public control or qualifying purchase-option term; proposed infrastructure scope; preliminary engineering report; match source; current audit/compliance standing; project budget; and that no prior RSDI investment, sale/lease activity, data-center restriction, or other funding rule blocks the proposed work. Unresolved applicant facts are ACCOUNT INPUT REQUIRED.
Atlas Assessment
Atlas Opportunity Score: 84/100. Strong current state-administered infrastructure opportunity with substantial award size, recurring cycles, and a credible Washington-Wilkes progression from RSDI due diligence to GRAD Select readiness.
N9+ Fit: 0/100. QC Healthcare Fit: 0/100. Do not force healthcare technology into an industrial-site-development program.
Official source: Georgia DCA Rural Site Development Initiative Notice of Funding Availability.