WAKULLA COUNTY, FL (WTXL) — Wakulla County has officially banned data centers throughout the county after commissioners unanimously voted to enact the ordinance.
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Residents say the ban is the right move, arguing communities like Wakulla need more time to learn about the potential impacts of data centers on rural areas.
Wakulla County Commissioner Valerie Russell brought the measure to the commission. She said the ordinance gives the county time to learn more about data centers and their effects on the community.
"We're in rural County. We're not sure how much it's affecting our water system, or electrical or power grid, those kind of things. So I feel like we made the ordinance so we can just kind of stop to it until we get more information on how it actually would affect our community. So now we have a way of saying, no, this is how it's going to be in our community. But if things change, we'll just have to look at the data centers as a whole," Russell said.
The new ordinance amends definitions in Section 2-4 of the Land Development Code and creates Section 6-40 to prohibit data centers.
County staff noted that under the current Land Development Code, data centers are not listed as permitted or conditional uses in any zoning district, meaning construction of data centers would not currently be permitted anywhere in the unincorporated area of the county.
The new ordinance reaffirms that directly.
"Data Centers are not allowed as a permitted or conditional use in any County zoning district. For the avoidance of doubt, Data Centers are prohibited within all unincorporated areas of the County."
Neighbor Matt Packett said a pause is what communities like Wakulla need.
“Let's stop until we really, we really see how these things work and all. You know, it just seems like when you build a data center or something else in a small community, and something else, something goes wrong with it, the community suffers, and something of this magnitude that what they're doing in other parts of the country, I don't think Wakulla County, I don't think we can suffer any type of a loss due to somebody else's, you know," Packett said.
Now that the ordinance is in place, the biggest question is whether it will face a legal challenge under SB 180. Russell said the recently passed SB 484 gives the county leverage in any such challenge.
The county also voted on the millage rate and budget for the next fiscal year.
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