Lakeland commissioners voted 4-3 Monday, August 3, 2026 to impose a one-year moratorium on new data centers and other businesses expected to use at least 50 megawatts of electricity.
The pause took effect immediately, stopping the city from accepting or reviewing applications while staff develops permanent rules. It grew out of the public uproar over Project Swan, a proposed 600,000-square-foot data center in west Lakeland.
When the vote was announced, applause erupted from the audience in the commission chamber.
Residents united, commissioners split
Mayor Sara Roberts McCarley and commissioners Terry Coney, Chad McLeod, and Guy LaLonde Jr. voted for the moratorium. Commissioners Stephanie Madden, Mike Musick, and Ashley Troutman voted against it.
“The simple fact of the matter is there’s still too many unknowns that we’ve heard from our constituents,” LaLonde said.
All 16 people who spoke during public comments supported a pause or stronger protections.
Supporters said the city needs time to study the effects on electricity, water, noise, neighboring properties, and utility customers — and to make sure developers bear the cost of any infrastructure built for them.
Three commissioners wanted narrower language
The three dissenters said they supported a pause but believed the ordinance was too broad because it covers every data center, regardless of size.
“I think that we need to have a pause,” Musick said, “but I don’t like the terminology and I don’t like the way that it’s written.”
Troutman wanted smaller proposals to continue through the city’s normal development review process while Lakeland studied exceptionally large power users.
“I am not asking my fellow commissioners to take on a Fort Meade project,” he said, referring to a massive data center planned in south Polk County.
Instead, he said, the city should refine the ordinance to “safeguard against the impacts that have been wisely stated by many of our residents, but also embrace an emerging technology in this state.”
Madden also argued that some smaller data centers might be appropriate, particularly if they reuse existing warehouses and generate fewer truck trips than another distribution center.
City Attorney Palmer Davis said data centers are not listed as an allowed use in Lakeland’s development code, so staff already considers them prohibited. He described the moratorium as a “belt-and-suspenders approach” that strengthens that position while the city writes clearer rules.
Davis said the current code does not give staff a clear basis for approving a small third-party data center while rejecting a larger one.
Lakeland Electric asked for time
Scott Bishop, Lakeland Electric’s new acting general manager, supported the pause.
Bishop said the utility already reviews whether it has the capacity to serve new large customers. A major power request might be manageable in one location but require a new substation or other expensive upgrades somewhere else.
“We already have barriers in place,” he said during Friday’s agenda study.
But the amount of power required by large data centers would be unlike anything Lakeland Electric has handled before.
“To the best of my knowledge, we have one data center. They are number 49th on our list of top 200 customers, and they don’t even use half a megawatt maximum load,” Willem Strauss, assistant general manager of Lakeland Electric said.
Bishop said the utility’s largest customer on a single meter is a Publix complex that uses about 18 megawatts, and that demand has grown gradually. Lakeland Electric has not had a new customer arrive seeking 50 or 100 megawatts at once.
He said the moratorium would give the utility time to craft policies spelling out who pays for new infrastructure, what happens if a project is canceled, and how other customers are protected from those costs.
“We’re trying to get our heads around all the things that are going to happen, how the technology’s going to evolve, and what both the federal government and state government might change between now and then,” Bishop said.
Using a gambling analogy, he said, “To put it all on black and spin, there’s risk.”
Hospitals and other businesses are exempt
Commissioners sought reassurance that the moratorium would not prevent hospitals and other businesses from expanding computer systems used for their own operations.
Davis said it would not.
The ordinance exempts server rooms, computer rooms, network equipment, and similar systems that support a business’s main purpose. A hospital can add storage for medical records, for example.
The restriction applies when operating a data center is the primary business, such as storing or processing information for outside customers.
Existing data centers may continue operating, but they cannot expand during the moratorium.
Residents questioned the promised benefits
Speakers raised concerns about utility rates, water use, noise, backup generators, fire risks, farmland, and the relatively small number of permanent jobs large data centers create.
Ashley Bowers-McRander cited a new Georgia Tech study that found the economic benefits were uneven and often smaller than supporters claim. The researchers found some gains in metropolitan areas, but little measurable benefit in rural and nonmetropolitan communities, which may still face the cost of expanding their electric grids.
Another speaker noted that nearly 70% of Lakeland Electric’s service area lies outside the city limits. That matters because Lakeland cannot control land use outside the city, even though its utility may be asked to serve a project there.
The moratorium therefore applies both inside Lakeland and to projects outside the city seeking service from Lakeland utilities.
Resident Magdalene DuPree urged commissioners to take the time needed to write thoughtful rules.
“Nobody is complaining about you not letting in enough projects for development,” she said, getting laughs from the audience. “Nobody is going to be out here saying, ‘Oh my gosh, those city commissioners, they really need to approve more developments.’”
The pause could end early
The ordinance can remain in place for up to 12 months, but commissioners may end it sooner if staff completes the work.
During that time, the city will decide whether and where data centers should be allowed and what rules they should follow. The review will cover power and water demands, noise, public safety, environmental effects, nearby properties, infrastructure costs, jobs, and tax revenue.
Florida and federal regulators are also developing rules for exceptionally large power users. Lakeland officials said they will watch what happens elsewhere, but because Lakeland Electric is municipally owned, the city will have to create many of its own protections.
McCarley emphasized that the moratorium is temporary.
LaLonde said a company serious about coming to Lakeland could wait while the city does its homework.
“Nothing wrong with pumping the brakes, guys,” he said.
Cindy Glover is a reporter for LkldNow, a nonprofit newsroom providing independent local news for Lakeland. Read at LkldNow.com
