Pinellas County Commissioner Kathleen Peters wants to ban data centers in Pinellas County, but under current legislation, it may be impossible to stop them.
While the county has not received an official proposal to build a data center, Peters reported to the Catalyst that staff has been approached by an unnamed party interested in developing a data center somewhere along Gandy Boulevard, where the center would have easy access to water to use for evaporative cooling of its systems. Millions of gallons are required daily.
“I don’t want increased demand on water and power,” said Peters. “What we need are good fiber optics, but we don’t need data centers here.”
(Note: fiber optics are used for high-speed communications.)
However, Gov. Ron DeSantis has extended statewide tax exemptions for data centers to entice more technological development across Florida, one of the largest investment verticals currently. That extension holds until June 2027.
Data centers are expanding to facilitate Artificial Intelligence (AI) investment. $8 trillion in AI spending is projected between now and 2030, making it comparable to the space race, according to Christopher Lloyd, Senior Vice President at McGuire Woods Consulting, who spoke at a February economic development summit in St. Petersburg.
At the summit, Lloyd argued that Pinellas has to be ready to capture that level of investment to stay competitive in an AI-driven world.
Friday, Peters pushed back on that notion with an ardent rejoinder: “Data centers aren’t a job creator.”
She argued that Florida needs to stick to what it already does best. “We need a good workforce, well-trained people, low taxes and a business-friendly community,” she said.
If she could, Peters would ban all data center development throughout Pinellas, but current legislation makes banning impossible, an unforeseen drawback to that legislation’s intent.
The legislation, Senate Bill 180, inadvertently curbs the county’s ability to stop data center development and was sponsored by Republican Senator Nick DiCeglie following the 2024 hurricanes. Originally intended to fast-track permitting in storm-impacted areas, giving the community a chance to rebuild faster by bypassing local planning authority, it effectively curtails constitutional home rule and opens municipalities to risky lawsuits.
Lawsuits remain a major risk because the legislation allows municipalities to be sued for being too “restrictive or burdensome” toward development. The ambiguity of what constitutes “restrictive or burdensome” opens the floodgates to developments like data centers, and the county has no recourse to stop it.
During the recent legislative session, amendment bills were proposed that would have corrected that oversight. But while a version passed in the Senate, a House companion, required for it to become law, never passed through the House Chamber, giving developers an entire year to push proposals through with little pushback, causing fear and concern among municipalities that were affected by the hurricanes. Now those fears are being realized.
But that’s not stopping Peters from taking whatever action she can under the law. “I will push to make sure they [data centers] get no tax incentives or abatements,” she said. “I will push for what we can do.
This content provided in partnership with StPeteCatalyst.com
