VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — The sun had set by the time Volusia County Commissioners left the chambers on Monday night, most of the evening’s agenda spent on just one hotbed issue; the prospect of Large-scale Data Centers coming to the county limits. Hours of intense debate between commissioners, with dozens of public comment speakers in between, preceded a unanimous vote that effectively bans Large-scale Data Centers in unincorporated Volusia County.
Note: In their official memo, Volusia County staff provided the following definition of a ‘large-scale data center’: “Large-scale data center” means a single location, with a data center on site, that has an anticipated monthly peak load of 50 megawatts or more, calculated as the highest average load over a 15-minute interval. The term does not include a load aggregated across multiple locations owned by the same customer.
That vote, while unanimous, was not achieved without disagreement between commissioners. The lines were drawn on the best course of action to achieve the ban, however, rather than whether or not to impose one. Prior to the August 17th meeting, commissioners had directed county staff to prepare both a research presentation on the impacts of hyperscale data centers and a draft ordinance imposing a six-month moratorium on any large-scale project in Volusia County. That moratorium, according to commissioners and staff, was originally to be used as a planning phase, allowing county staff and commissioners to prepare the most polished, “bulletproof”, ordinance they could, in order to prevent any litigation against the county.
Those concerns stemmed from the language in Senate Bill 180, which imposes land use, rezoning, and moratorium restrictions on municipal governments, as well as the language in Senate Bill 484, which inadvertently provides a limited exception to SB180. Under SB484, local governments maintain authority over planning and land use regulations relating to “large-load customers,” i.e., large-scale data centers.
SB484 also requires the state’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) to contract for a study recommending policy and negative-impact mitigation measures that municipal governments can take regarding data center projects.
At the August 17th meeting in Volusia County, county attorneys, as well as Comm. David Santiago, recommended that the board extend the moratorium to 12 months, which would allow time for the OPPAGA study to make policy recommendations the county could consider. At the meeting, Senior Assistant County Attorney Paolo Soria went on record recommending the board follow the moratorium process, telling the board it allows them “...to gather data and reassess your options.”
Members of the public spoke at public comment, referencing the full bans imposed by counties such as Jackson and Wakulla, urging the Commission to follow their example and enact an outright ban immediately. Comm. Don Dempsey held that same philosophy throughout the debate, stating that the county needed to “seize the moment”.
The commission eventually followed that course of action, the vote to ban large-scale data centers passing unanimously.
However, there are two important things to note after this vote. Firstly, the ordinance itself has not been approved. Because county staff originally came to the meeting with the six-month ordinance drafted, they must now go back to the drawing board and draft this new ordinance detailing the outright ban. This ordinance will still require approval by the county commission at a future meeting. Until that vote takes place, no large-scale data center can be built in county limits, under the Pending Ordinance Doctrine.
Secondly, this ordinance only applies to land in unincorporated Volusia County. Land within local city jurisdiction falls under the local ordinances of that city, not the county. Some city governments have already passed their own regulations, such as Ormond Beach, which unanimously voted to pass an 18-month moratorium in July. Residents in the city of Edgewater will see their data center ordinance on the November ballot, a referendum that was also passed unanimously by their city council.
At this time, no large-scale data center project proposals are being considered anywhere in Volusia County.
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