St. Petersburg’s current zoning rules ban standalone data centers. That includes the large facilities that run artificial intelligence. A memo from the city’s planning director says so.
Planning Director Derek Kilborn sent the memo to Mayor Ken Welch on Oct. 9. He wrote that the city’s land development code does not permit data centers, and it gives no path to a special exception either.
The zoning code includes a matrix of allowed land uses. Data centers aren’t listed. City rules treat any use missing from that list as prohibited.
Kilborn also checked whether a data center might count as something close to another permitted use, such as utility infrastructure. He found no good reason to say yes.
“For these reasons, Data Centers generally, and Large-Scale Data Centers explicitly, remain prohibited as a permitted, principal (P) or Special Exception (SE) use in the City of St. Petersburg,” Kilborn wrote, according to the St. Pete Catalyst.
The ruling covers standalone data centers, whether or not they meet the state’s size threshold. A new state law defines a large-scale data center as a facility that expects a monthly peak electrical demand of at least 50 megawatts at one location.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 484 in May. The bill admits that big utility users, such as data centers, bring infrastructure and environmental problems. It also keeps land use rules in local hands. The law took effect July 1.
Local governments across Pinellas County are now weighing how to regulate this fast-growing industry. Worries include electricity use, water supply, and open land.
Pinellas Park approved a one-year pause on data center development in August. In September, county commissioners passed a resolution that limits large standalone facilities in unincorporated areas.
St. Petersburg took a different path. Its memo says current rules already bar standalone data centers, so the city seems to need no new action to change the law.
The memo doesn’t say if the city has received any recent data center proposals. It also leaves open whether officials plan to change the zoning code.