Hillsborough County Commissioners voted unanimously to draft a moratorium on artificial intelligence data centers and begin developing land-use rules that could bar future facilities from using county drinking water for cooling.
Commissioner Donna Cameron Cepeda said she initially wanted the county to adopt an immediate five-year moratorium, but that she revised the proposal after receiving a briefing from the County Attorney’s Office about the restrictions imposed by SB 180 and the law’s provision allowing affected parties to sue.
The Commission took two separate 7-0 votes. One directed staff to develop a regulatory framework for future data centers while the other instructed the County Attorney’s Office to prepare the moratorium ordinance that would take effect immediately after SB 180 expires on Oct. 1, 2027 — or sooner if the law is struck down by a court — and return it to Commissioners for review.
“AI data centers are rapidly expanding and may have significant impacts on infrastructure, utilities and land use,” Cameron Cepeda said. “Therefore, the county needs to be ready to address the impacts of such developments with well-thought-out and defensible regulations.”
Commissioners said the regulations should extend beyond water consumption.
Commissioner Joshua Wostal asked staff to consider closed-loop water and power systems, noise, vibrations and engineering requirements intended to isolate the facilities from surrounding communities. He also raised concerns about data centers operating near environmentally protected land, arguing that wildlife could be particularly sensitive to persistent mechanical noise and vibrations.
“I don’t believe that saying a certain distance from homes is enough, because in those areas wildlife has to have a habitat,” Wostal said. “Hillsborough County has dedicated over 60,000 acres, as we know, of conserved environmental land and I don’t want one of these things being able to be built near those and disturbing their natural habitat. Animals are way more impacted and sensitive to sound vibration than humans are.”
He also said future facilities should not be allowed to place additional demands on public utility systems or shift infrastructure costs onto Hillsborough residents.
The votes followed sustained opposition during public comment, when residents urged Commissioners to impose an immediate moratorium or ban large-scale and hyperscale data centers altogether.
Speakers cited the facilities’ potential demands on water and electricity, along with concerns about higher utility bills, mechanical noise, diesel generators, air pollution and development pressure in rural East Hillsborough.
Several speakers pointed to University Energy Park near State Road 60 and Dover Road, which they said has been advertised as a potential location for a large-scale or hyperscale data center. They questioned whether a project was already moving through the county approval process, though staff later confirmed that no application is pending.
Other speakers focused on East Hillsborough’s reliance on private wells and the county’s recent drought.
“Who can we hold responsible when we run out of water and the sinkholes start?” local resident Susan Cortunis said.
The data-center votes followed a separate 7-0 decision directing staff to study water demand from a broader range of water-intensive development.
Commissioner Chris Boles, who championed that proposal, said the county should establish consistent conservation policies based on a development’s actual demands rather than targeting a particular industry. His proposal calls for staff to assess available water-management tools, infrastructure capacity and possible changes to county development and utility rules.
“This is bigger than just data centers,” Boles said. “Today it’s AI. Tomorrow, who knows what it’s going to be?”