{"id":844657,"date":"2026-06-04T21:40:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/844657\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T21:40:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:40:17","slug":"northeast-florida-regional-council-declares-data-centers-regional-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/844657\/","title":{"rendered":"Northeast Florida Regional Council Declares Data Centers Regional Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\"Flagler<\/p>\n

<\/a>Flagler County Commissioner Andy Dance as he made his motion to regionalize the data center issue this morning at a meeting of the directors of the Northeast Florida Regional Council in Jacksonville. Flagler County and Palm Coast are part of the regional council. (\u00a9 FlaglerLive via zoom)<\/p>\n

The Northeast Florida Regional Council this morning unanimously approved a motion by Flagler County Commissioner Andy Dance declaring data centers a regional issue. The measure\u00a0 now enables the organization to put its staff and resources\u2013including planning, legal and economic analysis\u2013to work on behalf of the seven counties and 25 cities that may want to develop new rules and regulations controlling the spread of data centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Flagler County and Palm Coast are part of the regional council. Both governments have agreed to temporary moratoriums on the development of new data centers pending rewrites of land-use regulations to ensure that future data centers, if permitted, comply with certain conditions. Flagler County is expected to consider its moratorium ordinance in July. It can now draw on the regional council\u2019s help for the work ahead. (See: \u201cPalm Coast Joins Flagler County in Considering 1-Year Moratorium on New Data Centers to Rewrite Rules<\/a>.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to the help, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Dance said after the meeting, held in Jacksonville. \u201cWe always say businesses want predictability, they want to know assurances that when they read codes that they can rely on zoning and land development regulations so that they don\u2019t run into surprises.\u201d The coming measures will define that predictability, Dance said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dance made the motion, but the item was on the agenda at the council chief administrator\u2019s initiative subsequent to previous discussions on the matter, and was expected to garner support as concerns about data centers have rapidly seized the attention of state and local governments.<\/p>\n

The councils are established by state law and open to fee-based local government participation in exchange for services that help local governments with managed growth, economic development and planning challenges. The organization\u2019s regional approach leverages resources that individual governments might not otherwise afford on their own: a recent council study on flooding, for example, cost local governments a fraction of what it would have cost had they conducted it individually.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The same approach will now apply to data centers. By regionalizing the issue, the Northeast Florida Regional Council will help any of its participating governments develop policies or amend their land-use codes. Data centers are generating volumes of speculation, assumption and information. \u201cBut how do you sort through all of the references and determine factual information? That\u2019s part again of what I think they\u2019ll be working on as well,\u201d Dance said. \u201cI got a lot of acknowledgement that our codes are not sufficient to deal with data centers, and that\u2019s a gap that we need to fill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"County<\/a>County Commissioner Andy Dance. (\u00a9 FlaglerLive)<\/p>\n

Nassau County in April directed its county attorney\u2019s office to draft a moratorium ordinance. The commission held its first public hearing on May 11. The second is scheduled for next Monday. Discussions at the regional council about that moratorium prompted Dance to propose the idea to his own commission. Palm Coast City Council members Ty Miller and Theresa Pontieri followed suit at the city. The next step for Dance was to secure more resources at the regional council to develop the proposed ordinance.<\/p>\n

The proposal generated plenty of discussion during a segment of this morning\u2019s meeting, starting with Nassau County\u2019s example.<\/p>\n

\u201cNassau County did ask us to assist them happy to do it,\u201d said Elizabeth Payne, the regional council\u2019s chief executive officer (essentially, the council\u2019s equivalent to a city or county manager), introducing the measure this morning. \u201cOur president kind of wisely asked that this be brought on the agenda as an action item, because when you make it an action item and you establish it as a regional issue, really what that does is allows me to allow staff to expend money, their time and their work hours to this issue. That\u2019s really what this is about.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nassau has \u201can incredible list of speakers that are coming before the public to share issues,\u201d Payne said of the ongoing process in Nassau County. \u201cAll the data, all the questions, all the issues on the table.\u201d A final report is to give the county recommendations on how to move forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Palm Coast and Flagler County have not yet gotten to that step. Dance said the county\u2019s process should include that step of public engagement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Payne said the public fact-finding discussions were far-ranging and unexpected as the data center issue underscored the connection between people, the environment and quality of life. \u201cWe heard impacts from the migratory birds, because Nassau is number two on the migratory bird Atlantic trail, to the pollinators that could be potentially disrupted,\u201d Payne said. \u201cPeople\u2019s circadian rhythms from some of the air quality and the noise potential. At the same time we\u2019re starting to get into the economic value and the economic benefits that they can bring, so it\u2019s really telling all the sides of the story and bringing up the issues as they come. It\u2019s fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nassau County maintains a dedicated web page<\/a> about the fact-finding committee, meeting videos, meeting materials, presentations and proposed ordinances. The page also enables the public to submit evidence, comment or testimony<\/a>. The regional council, Payne said, is drafting a weekly summary report on Nassau\u2019s meetings and bringing them to the regional council.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that we have found is that everyone in their presentations they\u2019ve given, and in public comment, all have data to share,\u201d Payne said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s real or whether it\u2019s accurate, is what we don\u2019t know. Because they all have sources, and everyone\u2019s being very factual, they\u2019re citing their references, but there\u2019s just so much of it that it is hard to parse through, and we\u2019ve heard a lot of environmental facts put out there that are then quickly overshadowed by other facts from another side of the table on innovations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The regional council discussed Palm Coast\u2019s data center\u2013a cable-landing station for up to six undersea data cables\u2013that prompted Payne to note that there has yet to be a definition of data centers, given the vast differences. \u201cThere are a dozen data centers in Jacksonville,\u201d Payne said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of which they don\u2019t want you to know about, honestly. It\u2019s a national security issue,\u201d a council member said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cVirginia will absolutely get to a yes every single time, because it is a matter of national security,\u201d Payne said. \u201cAnd we will build the data centers that are needed for our national security.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The discussion was a window into the regional differences in how data centers are perceived, and how paradoxical the issue remains. \u201cI have big concerns about data centers, any kind of data center,\u201d another council member said, \u201cbut obviously, if we\u2019re going to pass moratoriums and limit data centers in Florida or in other parts of the country, we have to start thinking about limiting data and AI that residents can use, because if there\u2019s demand for the data, there\u2019s demand for AI. Then the government has to stop the demand, we have to pass resolutions and statutes that limit what residents are allowed to use. This is a very, I think, onerous and heavy-handed move from the government. Or you have to meet the demand by building these centers, and it\u2019s not an easy decision.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regulating land-use, noise, and local water and power consumption of physical buildings does not of course logically require internet censorship or individual usage limits.\u00a0 Whether intentionally or not, Nassau County Commissioner Hupp Huppman corrected the flawed reasoning of his fellow council member: \u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s a balance there,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not willing to give up my resources, which is my water and my power for my citizenry, at the scale of what they may think that I need in Nassau County. That\u2019s really where I stand on it. If we can set up the rails and keep them in a lane that fits our community and fits our county and doesn\u2019t tap our resources to the point of strain, then we\u2019re a partner in economic vitality, but not at the sake of my resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was at that point that Dance floated his motion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe benefit of the council is being able to share information amongst us, regardless of our borders,\u201d Dance said. \u201cI think the effects and the impacts don\u2019t recognize county borders, especially environmental concerns, and so the amount of effort already that the regional council is helping Nassau, we will likely require equal assistance as we pursue a similar path that Nassau has.\u201d He said codes as written are simply not written for data centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dance rejected the argument that regulating data centers is anti-business. Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed a law that sets boundaries on centers. \u201cFlorida is one of the most pro-growth, pro-business states, and the legislature and the governor saw fit to impose regulations on hyperscale data centers,\u201d Dance said, \u201cand Senate Bill 44 left it up to our local jurisdictions to establish rules. So they set the precedent on what we are currently doing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a related discussion that prefaced the data center item, Payne had cautioned the regional council that future budget cuts provoked by the possible reduction in homesteaded tax revenue may have a severe impact on regional councils if participating governments cut back their dues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Huppman and Clay County Commissioner Jim Renninger said that would be a short-sighted loss. \u201cWithout membership in the regional council,\u201d Renninger said, describing how Clay County is piggybacking on Nassau\u2019s research about data centers, \u201cwe\u2019d have been in the forest looking at the trees, not, knowing how to get out of it. So there\u2019s a lot of benefit, and data centers is one thing. Solid waste management is another. Advanced air mobility is a third.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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