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First Public Hearing to Consider Ordinance Amending Hernando County Code to Impose Moratorium on Processing Applications for Development Orders and Development Permits for Data Centers for Period Up to 365 Days, Unless Extended or Terminated: Enacting Temporary Moratorium on Data Centers
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BRIEF OVERVIEW
Data centers are a rapidly growing and evolving land use that typically require substantial electricity and water usage for cooling and related operations, often generate a significant amount of noise, and can take up a very large amount of land.
As this development pressure was unanticipated, existing ordinances and development standards do not adequately address the unique infrastructure demands, impacts to neighboring property owners, and operational characteristics of newer data centers. Additionally, potential cumulative impacts of data centers on the County's water and wastewater systems, groundwater resources, wastewater infrastructure, and electrical grid are not yet fully understood.
The Planning Division is requesting authorization for a temporary moratorium on the processing of development orders and/or development permits for these data centers to evaluate land use compatibility and impacts to critical public facilities through a collaborative effort with internal County departments and external Agencies responsible for the provision of these services. Prior to the end data of the moratorium, the Planning Division intends to bring any necessary amendments to the Comprehensive Plan and/or revisions to the Land Development Regulations to the Board of County Commissioners.
If consensus to proceed with this Ordinance is granted, it will be brought back to the Board for adoption on July 7, 2026.
STRATEGIC PLAN INITIATIVES
The request is consistent with Strategic Theme D, "Quality of Life"
FINANCIAL IMPACT
A matter of policy. There is no financial impact associated with this request.
LEGAL NOTE
The Board has authority to act on t...
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