STUART – The Martin County Commission voted 4-0 Oct. 27 to approve a one-year moratorium on the acceptance of any development applications related to data centers in response to a public outcry against such facilities that has gripped the State of Florida and the rest of the nation in recent months.
Commissioners had initially approved the moratorium on first reading two weeks prior after a handful of residents urged the Board to do so. This time more than two dozen members of the public asked them to take the final step, whose comments were urged on by applause, whistles and cheers from the packed Commission Chambers. Some speakers like Susan Stevenson asked their elected representatives to make the moratorium retroactive due to a data center application submitted the same day as the first reading for the South Florida Gateway Industrial Park.
“I am here to speak in support of the moratorium regarding data centers and to advocate that it be applied retroactively to anything that’s in the pipeline,” she said. “I’m an engineer for a large, industrial gas company, and through that experience, I learned that the best projects solve problems. This data center is not solving a problem – there isn’t a demand for data centers – it’s being pushed. We don’t know where it’s going to go yet and by passing a moratorium, we’re allowing the public to understand what the data center impact will be.”
One of the speakers living closest to that industrial park, Ray Grogan, also lobbied for the moratorium.
“From this room to the stop light at Ocean Boulevard is 500 feet,” he said. “This data center will be built 800 feet from my front door – that’s not acceptable. There are roughly 500 homes within about a mile and a half of this data center. That’s a two-lane road – where’s all this construction [traffic] going to go? Who’s going to direct traffic? The company that filed for this is 112 days old out of North Carolina. You want this built in North Carolina – don’t build it here.”
Commission Chairwoman Sarah Heard then announced she would move the item forward on the agenda to handle it first thing, and County Attorney Elysse Elder reintroduced the item after a short recess.
“This is the second public hearing,” she said. “We went through the ordinance at the Oct. 13 Board meeting, but I will briefly go through it again. The first five pages are the legislative findings to support why we’re implementing this moratorium, based on recent changes in Florida law, specifically Senate Bill 484. It also talks about the interplay with Senate Bill 180 and that our regulations are insufficient to plan for these large-scale data centers.”
Elder proceeded to detail the different sections of the moratorium ordinance. While Section C establishes the interim planning period and a suspension of the acceptance of data center applications, Section D formally limits the moratorium to 365 calendar days from the date of passage by a majority Commission vote. Section E establishes the various types of issues staff will investigate during that period in order to craft any needed regulations.
“There are 26 different areas listed,” she continued. “This is not inclusive – I’m sure there are other areas not listed – but the 26 items support the fact that we need a year to do this. The ordinance provides that staff will come back to the Board periodically over the year to give updates and [get] feedback on the progress.”
Section 4 of the ordinance highlights how the moratorium will comply with state statutes. Since Martin County saw tornado damages due to Hurricane Milton, those specific properties would be exempt from the moratorium.
“It’s applicable only in the unincorporated areas, which does not include our municipalities,” Elder concluded. “It also is not applicable to applications submitted and deemed sufficient prior to the effective date of the ordinance, which would likely be today if the Board adopts it. Finally, it’s not applicable to properties damaged by Hurricanes Debbie, Helene and Milton [and] protected by Senate Bill 180.”
Chairwoman Heard immediately questioned Elder about the data center application slipping through the cracks.
“Can you please tell us the size of the proposal, if it’s a major or a minor [site plan] and who will make decisions on this?” she asked.
“I have limited information,” the county attorney admitted. “The location is in a platted industrial park, and under our code, this data center would be exempt from coming to the Board because it is a targeted business in our comprehensive plan and our land development regulations. Under our LDRs in Article 10, any size development in a platted industrial park is administratively approved. That’s been the rule for a long time.”
Deputy Growth Management Director Peter Walden provided more details.
“We did get an application in on Oct. 13,” he said. “Staff hasn’t had a chance to do the review yet. We can tell you that it is 959,000 square feet, housed in four buildings on an 84-acre platted industrial subdivision [and] part of a planned unit development. So, staff has all of the criteria of the comprehensive plan and the LDRs to make sure that all of the concerns about the residential areas around it and any environmental issues are mitigated.”
Commissioner Ed Ciampi, who subsequently made the motion for approval, insisted the Commission had not dragged its feet on the moratorium as some residents alleged but rather had to comply with state statutes for two public hearings on such ordinance requests.
“We were not aware that application was about to be filed,” he said of the Oct. 13 submittal. “I don’t think you need to be an expert to realize that it was a little bit of maneuvering on the applicant’s part to make sure they got in ahead of time. We meet twice a month, and this agenda item is quite large. I think it was obviously Ms. Edler’s number one priority, [and] we did bring it as quickly as possible. Other than the Kanner Highway [facility], we can now lock it down for a year.”
Elder in turn, emphasized the potential legal ramifications for including that application in the moratorium.
“The applicant would likely file a Bert J. Harris and vested rights claim against us,” she said. “They have certain entitlements at this point. That’s why if you look across the state, almost all of the moratoriums are for applications and the acceptance and not just an outright ban.”
Both District 1 Commissioner Eileen Vargas and Chairwoman Heard subsequently said they would prefer just such a ban and asked Elder to investigate that possibility as part of her research. Vargas urged the county attorney to report back to the Board as soon as with her findings about a potential ban. Commissioner Blake Capps then seconded Ciampi’s motion, which passed 4-1, with Commissioner Stacey Hetherington reclused.