Broward County may become one of the latest local governments in Florida to adopt a temporary ban on data centers.
According to Tuesday’s commission meeting agenda, County Commissioner Lamar Fisher is set to request that the county attorney draft an ordinance that — if approved — would establish a yearlong moratorium on the development of large-scale data centers within unincorporated Broward County.
“Given the potential impacts of these facilities on infrastructure capacity, utility demand, surrounding land uses and the environment … the moratorium would provide the county with an opportunity to evaluate these impacts and develop appropriate land development regulations governing such facilities,” according to the agenda.
Other local governments have enacted similar measures. The Palm Beach County Commission approved a yearlong data center moratorium on Sept. 24, months after rejecting Project Tango, a massive data center proposed west of Loxahatchee.
More than a dozen local governments across the state also have adopted yearlong moratoriums, including Bay, Citrus, Clay, Holmes, Jackson, Leon, Nassau and Pasco counties.
Many of these moratoriums are based on a bill that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law in May creating the state’s first regulatory framework on large-scale data centers, which are defined to have “an anticipated monthly peak load of 50 megawatts or more.” One megawatt could power anywhere from 600 to 1,000 “average” homes in developed countries, according to energy experts.
The purpose of the law is to protect Floridians against AI data center development by creating rules primarily around electricity grid and water usage. The law also grants local government officials the authority to create their own rules about how to handle data center development.
The moratoriums give local governments the time to determine what data centers should look like and what rules, if any, should surround the creation of them.
Under Florida law, a moratorium must be done in conjunction with changes to a local government code, Palm Beach County Assistant County Attorney Darren Leiser said in August.