Pinellas Will Put It in Writing: No Large Data Centers in the Unincorporated County

Pinellas County commissioners moved on Aug. 25 to put in writing what county lawyers say is already true: large-scale data centers are not an allowed use in unincorporated Pinellas County. Commissioner Dave Eggers asked staff to draft a resolution saying so plainly, and County Attorney Jewel White confirmed the county's land development code works by exclusion, meaning any use not explicitly permitted is prohibited. For residents in Palm Harbor, East Lake, Lealman and every other unincorporated pocket, that is the clearest signal yet on a use that could reshape water demand, electric bills and nighttime noise.

Nothing is pending. County Administrator Barry Burton told commissioners the county has received no formal applications, only two inquiries: one in the unincorporated area and one in Pinellas Park.

Why a resolution and not a moratorium

Because state law is in the way. SB 180, the 2025 law limiting new local development restrictions in hurricane-affected areas, restricts the county's ability to impose an outright moratorium. A resolution restates existing code rather than creating a new restriction, which is the path commissioners are taking instead.

It also has a hard boundary. County code governs only unincorporated Pinellas. Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Largo, Dunedin and the county's other municipalities each write their own zoning rules, so a county resolution does not decide anything inside city limits.

Pinellas Park went first

The city council voted unanimously on Aug. 11 to adopt Ordinance 2026-22, a 12-month moratorium on data centers and what the ordinance calls "large load customer facilities," defined as any development with an anticipated monthly peak electric load of 50 megawatts or more. The pause ends when the city adopts a land development code amendment or after 12 months, whichever comes first.

Residents drove it. At the public hearing, neighbors raised water consumption, nighttime noise, weekly generator testing and effects on wetlands and wildlife. According to local news reports, city planning staff said the pause buys time to write definitions, performance standards and application requirements, and to figure out which zoning districts, if any, should accept these facilities. An attorney for American Tower asked the council to continue the hearing, saying his client had spent close to $1 million based on earlier guidance from the city. The council voted anyway.

The project that started it all was not enormous by industry standards: a roughly 17,653-square-foot building. City staff concluded it could not simply be reviewed as a warehouse, because the code does not account for what modern data centers actually do. During a countywide planning discussion in July, one elected official noted the facility could draw as much electricity as 2,500 homes.

The water question

Water is the piece commissioners keep returning to. At a May work session, Commissioner Chris Scherer cited estimates that a small data center can use up to 3 million gallons a month while larger facilities can exceed 150 million gallons, and argued the county could regulate through water use because SB 180 does not address it. Commissioner Kathleen Peters, who first pushed for a ban in April, cautioned that broad water restrictions could sweep in hospitals, power plants and waste facilities that use similar cooling, and noted newer designs recirculate water in closed loops. She has pressed separately to bar tax incentives and abatements for these projects.

What happens next

Forward Pinellas, the countywide planning agency whose board includes county commissioners and city officials, has a data center policy working group meeting monthly through November. Its charge is shared definitions and evaluation standards rather than a single zoning rule every city must copy. Pinellas Park's council also directed staff to coordinate with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Southwest Florida Water Management District, the Florida Department of Transportation and Duke Energy while it writes its code.

No date has been set for the commission to vote on the resolution language, and the county has not said whether it will pair the resolution with water-use or utility rules. Pinellas Park's moratorium clock runs out next August, or sooner if its planners finish first.

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