Pinellas County closes the door on large-scale data centers

Pinellas County commissioners want to make one thing clear to technology companies eyeing the county’s industrial corridors: Large-scale, standalone data centers are not welcome in unincorporated Pinellas.

Commissioners agreed Tuesday to have county staff prepare a resolution stating that the controversial, massive facilities are not allowed under the county’s existing development code — and that the board has no intention of permitting them.

The resolution would not change the law. Instead, it would put the commission’s position in writing as public concern grows over the amount of electricity, water and industrial land consumed by data centers built to support artificial intelligence and other digital services like cloud computing.

“I would like it sooner than later,” commission Chair Dave Eggers told the board in Tuesday’s meeting, “because we’ve been talking about this for a long time.”

The move stops short of the temporary moratoriums adopted by Pinellas Park and mutiple other Florida communities. Pinellas County Attorney Jewel White says a moratorium could wrongly suggest that large-scale data centers are currently allowed in unincorporated Pinellas.

Under the county’s zoning code, uses not specifically permitted are prohibited. Standalone data centers are not listed as an allowable primary use, White says.

“I would be hesitant to enact a moratorium on something that is not currently allowed because I feel like that would give the impression that it is, in fact,allowed,” White says.

Commissioner Brian Scott says the resolution could reassure residents who fear a developer might find another path to approval.

“I think if we were to do a resolution that just, you know, laid out our intent, I think that would just go a long way to building some trust with the public,” Scott says.

The county has not received a formal application for a data center, County Administrator Barry Burton told the commission. Officials have fielded two inquiries — one involving property in unincorporated Pinellas and another in Pinellas Park — but neither became an active county application.

The Pinellas Park inquiry advanced further. American Tower Corp., a Boston-based real estate investment trust, proposed replacing a light-industrial building at 10700 76th Court N. with an approximately 17,000-square-foot data-processing facility. A communications tower would have remained on the property.

The company later dropped its application, and Pinellas Park City Council unanimously approved a one-year moratorium Aug. 11. The pause prevents the city from processing applications for new or expanded data centers while officials study potential effects on utilities, the environment, public safety and nearby properties.

Pinellas County’s resolution would apply only to unincorporated parts of the county. Each of the county’s 24 cities controls development within its boundaries and would have to adopt its own regulations.

Move forward 

The data center debate carries particular importance in Pinellas, one of Florida’s most densely-developed counties.

Although the county has multiple industrial and employment districts — particularly through the Gateway and mid-county areas — much of that developable land is already occupied.

A study by Forward Pinellas, Pinellas County’s official land use and transportation planning agency, found that the county has a larger manufacturing base than both Hillsborough and Polk counties combined. The study also warns that limited industrial land faces increasing pressure for conversion to housing and other uses. An earlier county industrial-land analysis found fewer than 4,000 vacant acres designated to accommodate businesses, with some of that property constrained by ponds, utilities, rights of way and other features.

For the county, the problem is bigger than whether a data center can fit on an industrially designated parcel. Commissioners and planners must also consider whether a facility that may require a lot acres but employ relatively few permanent workers is the best use of property the county has worked to preserve for job-producing industries.

“We don’t have the space anyways, let’s be honest about it,” Scott told commissioners during Tuesday’s meeting.

Data centers can range from small server rooms operated by hospitals, universities and government agencies to hyperscale campuses encompassing millions of square feet, county staff say. Large facilities contain rows of computer servers that operate continuously, producing heat that must be managed with energy and, in some cases, water-intensive cooling systems.

Scott says the county must make sure any future definition distinguishes those facilities from smaller computer operations serving hospitals, law enforcement agencies or other institutions.

“A Google or an Amazon or a Microsoft data center that takes up acres and acres and acres … is a lot different than a data center that the sheriff’s office uses or a hospital uses,” he says.

By the rules

Forward Pinellas began researching the issue after the Pinellas Park proposal surfaced. Its board agreed July 8 to develop common definitions and potential standards that cities and the county could use.

A new Countywide Data Center Policy Working Group is scheduled to hold its first meeting Aug. 31. The group will examine land-use compatibility, infrastructure, utility demands and possible changes to the Countywide Plan. Additional meetings are scheduled in October and November.

Commissioner Kathleen Peters says recommendations could begin to emerge as soon as October. Individual cities and the county would still have to incorporate any restrictions into their own development codes.

The county’s resolution is expected to return to commissioners sooner.

A formal code amendment may be more complicated because of Senate Bill 180, a 2025 Florida law enacted after hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton. The law temporarily restricts local governments covered by federal disaster declarations from adopting certain construction moratoriums or more restrictive land-development regulations through Oct. 1, 2027.

White described the resolution as a compromise that would state the county’s position without changing its development regulations as long as those restrictions remain in effect.

The same law prompted Hillsborough County commissioners earlier this month to direct their attorney to draft a prohibition on large-scale data centers that would not take effect until the state restrictions expire.

For Pinellas commissioners, however, the task is more straightforward: formally say that, under current county rules, the door is already closed.

“A resolution would be a really smart thing to do,” Scott says. “There’s a lot of angst out in the public on this particular item."