Lakeland is preparing to suspend approvals for new data centers for up to a year as city officials weigh how the facilities should fit into the city’s long-term growth plans.
The proposed moratorium would halt applications for data centers and other large-load customers for 12 months. It would apply both within Lakeland and to projects outside the city that would rely on Lakeland’s electric, water, wastewater or other utility services.
The proposal follows a new Florida law recognizing data centers and other large-load customers as a distinct planning issue for local governments.
Lakeland’s ordinance says the city’s development regulations were not written with those facilities in mind, leaving unanswered questions about where they belong and how to address their demands on utilities and public infrastructure.
During the moratorium, staff would prepare recommendations on whether data centers should be permitted in particular land-use categories and zoning districts.
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The review would also examine electric capacity, water and wastewater demand, infrastructure costs, emergency response, backup generation, battery storage, environmental impacts and whether developers should pay for improvements needed to serve projects with unusually large utility demands.
The ordinance would apply to development permits, development orders, comprehensive plan amendments and other approvals involving data centers or large-load customers, defined under state law as customers with an anticipated monthly peak electrical load of at least 50 megawatts at a single location.
Existing data centers could continue operating but would not be allowed to expand during the moratorium, while server rooms, telecommunications rooms and similar equipment used to support a business’s own operations would remain exempt.
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