Data Centers

North Port officials moved to join elected leaders in Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties who have put new data center proposals on hold in recent months, as packed crowds have rallied against such projects sweeping across Florida.

The case before Florida's Public Service Commission is weighing whether Duke Energy plans to do enough to shield customers from the costs of data centers, including one planned for Fort Meade.

Consumer advocates say residential ratepayers could see their bills go up substantially, while Duke says shareholders — and not customers — would pay up if a massive data facility were unable to pay its serving costs.

Manatee's Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of a data center moratorium at a July 28 meeting. The move also directs county staff to potentially revise their land development code.

The 4-3 vote pauses new applications while the city develops rules for data centers and other exceptionally large utility customers.

Earlier this month, Palm Beach County commissioners voted 5-1 to slam the brakes on the controversial Project Tango AI data center proposal – but tech companies aren't backing away, and more proposals for large-scale data center projects are likely to follow. Experts say the latest vote was a cautionary tale.

As it stands, DeSoto County does not have local regulations for data centers. The moratorium will allow the county to consider regulatory measures before accepting future data center applications.

But he backs moves by cities and states to regulate large-scale data centers to protect their water supply and keep electricity bills from going up further.

Lakeland Electric and water utility officials provided more information to commissioners at the July 20 city commission meeting.

It will put a halt to any server or computer rooms that would use more than 2.5 megawatts of electricity in unincorporated areas of Pasco.

As a state senator in 2025, Republican Jay Collins sponsored a bill that sought to indefinitely extend a June 2027 deadline for eligible data centers to apply for temporary tax exemptions. The bill died in committee.

Sarasota County will not even consider the notion of any large-scale data centers for at least a year, citing concerns over utility resources and environmental degradation.