{"id":344787,"date":"2026-07-18T22:40:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T22:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/344787\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T22:40:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T22:40:06","slug":"pinellas-county-moves-to-get-ahead-of-ai-data-center-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/344787\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinellas County moves to get ahead of AI data center growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pinellas County officials are beginning work on a countywide strategy for regulating data centers after a proposed artificial intelligence facility in Pinellas Park<\/a> exposed gaps in existing land-use policies.<\/p>\n

The Forward Pinellas board backed additional research July 8 and the development of a planning framework that could eventually guide how local governments evaluate future data center proposals across the county.<\/p>\n

Forward Pinellas is the county\u2019s planning agency, responsible for coordinating transportation and land-use policy across Pinellas County. Its board includes Pinellas County commissioners and elected officials from municipalities throughout the county.<\/p>\n

The effort follows a June 30 recommendation<\/a> from the agency\u2019s Planners Advisory Committee to form a subcommittee exploring whether the Countywide Plan should be updated to address data centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [June 30] discussion was thoughtful and focused on understanding the issue rather than advocating for or against data centers,\u201d Emma Wennick, a Forward Pinellas program manager, told the Catalyst in an email. \u201cCommittee members generally agreed that additional research is needed to protect the public interest before these types of applications become more common in Pinellas County.\u201d<\/p>\n

No policy changes have been proposed. Instead, officials hope to develop common definitions and planning standards before additional standalone data center applications begin appearing across Pinellas County.<\/p>\n

The effort stems from a proposal to build a 17,653-square-foot data center in Pinellas Park, where city staff determined the project could not simply be classified as a warehouse because current regulations do not clearly account for modern data centers.<\/p>\n

Pinellas Park Community Development Administrator Nick Colonna told the Catalyst recently the city\u2019s proposed moratorium would give officials time to determine how data centers should be defined and regulated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot to go through,\u201d Colonna said, adding that regulation of data centers remains in its \u201creally early stages.\u201d<\/p>\n

A draft Forward Pinellas white paper<\/a> reached the same conclusion, recommending updated definitions and evaluation standards because data centers do not fit neatly within existing land-use categories.<\/p>\n

Much of the board\u2019s July 8 discussion<\/a> centered on how local governments should evaluate future proposals.<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg City Council Vice Chair Richie Floyd said learning the proposed Pinellas Park facility could require as much electricity as 2,500 homes changed how he viewed the project. Floyd went on to say, \u201cI just don\u2019t feel like I have enough info to be able to make any sort of educated decision on uses like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Largo Vice Mayor Chris Johnson said his city had already begun discussing the issue through its planning board.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cHaving some coordinated efforts on this and a pause while we figure it out seems wise,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Pinellas Park Vice Mayor Ricky Butler said the issue had become unusually unifying among residents and elected officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you that I have never seen a more unifying topic in the year of our Lord 2026 than data centers,\u201d Butler said.<\/p>\n

Butler said planners should consider a data center\u2019s purpose when evaluating proposals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this is supporting critical infrastructure for government, healthcare, what have you, that\u2019s got to be different,\u201d Butler said.<\/p>\n

Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Scherer said he supported a one-year pause on approvals while governments establish a policy framework.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Brian Scott suggested requiring additional review whenever a proposal exceeds established thresholds for electricity or water consumption.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to get an application for something that\u2019s going to use, pick a number, X amount of water or X amount of electricity,\u201d Scott said, \u201cthere\u2019s a level of accountability and process that has to go through that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Floyd also urged officials to think beyond county boundaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the conversation needs to be broad,\u201d Floyd said, warning that large facilities approved elsewhere could still affect the electric grid and utility costs.<\/p>\n

Forward Pinellas staff said a countywide framework would not require every municipality to adopt identical zoning regulations. Instead, it could establish shared definitions and evaluation criteria while allowing local governments to decide where data centers are appropriate.<\/p>\n

The discussion also acknowledged that any future framework will also have to account for the growing role data centers are expected to play in the economy and public services.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs AI adoption accelerates, regional data centers are becoming essential civic infrastructure,\u201d said Joe Hamilton, founder of the Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence<\/a>. \u201cThey provide the resiliency, low-latency computing and local processing capacity that governments, businesses and critical public services will increasingly rely upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton said concerns surrounding data centers are legitimate but argued they should be addressed through thoughtful planning rather than policies that discourage infrastructure needed to support economic growth, scientific discovery and public services.<\/p>\n

The Planners Advisory Committee subcommittee will now work with Forward Pinellas staff to develop recommendations for future consideration by the board.<\/p>\n

Joe Hamilton is publisher of the St. Pete Catalyst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pinellas County officials are beginning work on a countywide strategy for regulating data centers after a proposed artificial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-344787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}