Pinellas County Makes It Official: No Large-Scale Data Centers Allowed Outside Cities

Pinellas County commissioners voted Thursday, September 24, to put in writing something the county's land development code already made true: large, standalone data centers are not welcome in unincorporated Pinellas County, and the board intends to keep it that way. The resolution doesn't change any zoning rules. It formalizes a policy stance that had, until now, existed mostly as an absence, a use simply left off the list of what's permitted on unincorporated land.

For homeowners in unincorporated neighborhoods near substations, industrial parks or vacant commercial parcels, the vote answers a question that's been circulating for months: could a company like Amazon, Google or Microsoft show up with plans for a sprawling server farm next door. The answer, commissioners said Thursday, is no.

Why commissioners felt they needed to act

The county already bars standalone data centers because they're not listed as a permitted use under the land development code. But officials said recent Florida legislation recognizing data centers and other "large-load customers" as a distinct planning challenge, combined with growing public pressure, made it worth spelling the policy out in a formal resolution rather than leaving it as a technicality buried in code language.

Commissioners pointed to two practical worries. First, Pinellas is nearly built out, with little developable land left for anything, let alone a facility that can span acres. Second, large data centers draw enormous amounts of electricity and water, and generate heat and noise that can spill into neighboring properties. The resolution states plainly that those costs could outweigh whatever economic benefit a data center might bring.

The resolution carves out one exception. Data systems that support an already-permitted use, such as a hospital's servers or a university's computing lab, can still operate. What's barred is the standalone kind: the type of facility a tech giant builds purely to house racks of servers, with no other function on the site.

How it got here

The push toward Thursday's vote started earlier this year. Commissioner Kathleen Peters raised the idea of a ban in the spring, citing water usage and rising energy costs. Commissioner Chris Scherer warned that large facilities could drive up power costs for everyone else on the grid. Commissioner Brian Scott argued for a bright line between a "Google or an Amazon or a Microsoft data center that takes up acres and acres and acres" and the small server rooms that a sheriff's office or hospital already runs.

The debate picked up urgency after American Tower Corporation proposed an approximately 17,000-square-foot data processing facility at 10700 76th Court N. in Pinellas Park. That project sits inside city limits, not unincorporated county, but it pushed nearby residents to flood commissioners with emails and pushed Pinellas Park's own City Council to unanimously approve a one-year moratorium on August 11 while it studies the issue.

County officials considered a similar moratorium but backed away from it. County Attorney Jewel White told commissioners in late August that imposing a moratorium on something the code already prohibits could send the wrong signal, implying the use might otherwise be allowed. A resolution, she said, could state the county's position clearly without the multiple rounds of public hearings an ordinance change would require, and without that risk.

Florida's Senate Bill 180 adds another wrinkle. It restricts new moratoriums and more restrictive land-use changes in communities still covered by federal disaster declarations tied to hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton, which includes much of Pinellas. White told commissioners a resolution reinforcing an existing prohibition avoids that legal exposure in a way a brand-new moratorium might not.

What's still unsettled

The resolution doesn't rewrite the development code, and White has told commissioners the county may eventually need to formally define what counts as a "data center" so smaller, use-specific operations stay allowed while standalone ones stay out. That kind of code change would require public hearings, not just a board vote.

Meanwhile, Forward Pinellas, the regional planning agency, has been working since summer on countywide definitions and standards that cities and the county could share, so a facility that's banned in unincorporated Pinellas doesn't simply get built next door in a city with looser rules. Board members backed further research at a July meeting, with Scott suggesting that a project's actual water and electricity draw could determine how much scrutiny it gets. Peters has said that work could be ready as soon as October, which would give commissioners a common framework to weigh against Thursday's resolution.

Find more coverage of county government decisions and what they mean for Pinellas neighborhoods at Pinellas County Community Website, and follow us on Facebook for updates as this policy develops. Have thoughts on the data center ban? Join the conversation in our Community Forum, or read more government and politics stories from around the county.

Header photo: Ebyabe / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)