Pinellas Park proposes one-year moratorium on new data centers

Pinellas Park is looking to pause new data center development for a year while officials develop regulations to address the industry’s growing infrastructure demands.

If approved, the ordinance would temporarily stop the city from accepting or approving applications for new or expanded data centers, including projects already in the pipeline. During the moratorium, staff would draft zoning rules governing where the facilities can be built and how they’ll be reviewed.

City officials say the current land development code was not written with modern data centers in mind and lacks standards for their infrastructure needs and operational impacts.

The proposal comes weeks after American Tower unveiled plans for a 4-megawatt edge data center at 10700 76th Court North and follows a new Florida law reaffirming local governments’ authority to regulate developments with unusually large utility demands.

The ordinance would cover facilities used for artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cryptocurrency mining and other forms of high-performance computing.