- August 6, 2026
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Hillsborough County commissioners, in a pair of unanimous votes at a meeting Wednesday. took the first steps toward creating a moratorium to prevent the development of data centers.
In doing so, the commission joined a growing list of local officials across the region, state and country looking to slow — and possibly stop — the construction of the often-massive artificial intelligence centers in their jurisdictions.
The first vote called for county staff to look at land use regulations, including the possibility of limiting or prohibiting the use of county potable water for cooling the facilities.
The second was for staff to draft an ordinance for commissioners to review that imposes a moratorium on the development of AI data centers in unincorporated parts of the county.
If approved, the ordinance would take effect after SB180 expires Oct. 1, 2027 or is struck down by the courts.
SB180, approved by the Florida Legislature, lays out directives for how local governments respond to emergencies. It, in part, “prohibits certain counties and municipalities from proposing or adopting a moratorium on the construction or redevelopment of property or more restrictive or burdensome regulations or procedures pertaining to land development” for one year after a hurricane makes landfall.
The provisions apply to Hillsborough because of Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton.
Donna Cameron Cepeda, who represents District 5 and proposed the measures, originally wanted a five-year moratorium but changed course after a briefing from the county attorney about SB 180.
“Data centers have significant impacts on infrastructure, utilities and land use,” Cepeda said from the dais.
“Therefore, the county needs to be ready to address the impacts of such developments with well thought-out and defensible regulations that provide for the protection of the public health, safety and welfare, as well as public resources.”
Hillsborough is just the latest local government to take up a moratorium on data centers.
Just last week, Manatee County commissioners directed staff to draft an ordinance establishing a temporary moratorium on the acceptance, processing and approval of development applications associated with data centers and other customers or facilities with substantial electrical, water, wastewater or other utility demands.
Pasco County passed a one-year pause for unincorporated parts of the county July 14, following Zephyrhills, a city in the county, which approved its own 12-month moratorium on June 8.
And Sarasota County passed a 12-month moratorium on July 8.
Data centers are massive facilities that house tens of thousands of computer servers. While they have been around for a long while to support cloud services and other technologies, modern facilities to service AI will sit on huge plots of land, sometimes hundreds of acres, and are called hyperscalers. (A hyperscale data center, according to IBM, is a massive data center that provides extreme scalability capabilities.)
The pressing concern for local leaders — and throngs of community members who come out to protest the facilities when they are on the agenda — is a fear about how they drain water resources and tax electrical systems, raising costs for residents.
There is also the matter of noise.
“The noise is well documented at this point,” said Joshua Wostal, who represents District 7.
“It can be heard a very long way away, particularly in rural areas. And I don't believe that saying (keep them) a certain distance from homes is enough because in those areas the wildlife has to have a habitat. Hillsborough County has dedicated over 60,000 acres of conserved environmental land.”
Commissioners discussed data centers for about 20 minutes Wednesday, a lightning -ast discussion when it comes to public meetings. Earlier, though, several residents shared their concerns during a public comment session.
The outcry comes even though there are no active applications for data centers in the county.
