The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, Nov. 3, voted unanimously to approve an ordinance that puts a temporary planning moratorium on medium-scale and large-scale data center development applications in the Northeast Florida county, the Jax Daily Record reported.

The board's Nov. 3 regular meeting agenda, published by the County Clerk, lists the measure as item 13: "Enactment of an Ordinance establishing a temporary planning moratorium regarding data centers effective November 15, 2026." According to the Daily Record, the moratorium takes effect Nov. 15 and runs until Oct. 31, 2027, unless the county adopts permanent rules or repeals it first.

The county is not trying to ban data centers outright. Deputy County Attorney Kealey West told commissioners that while the county can establish a temporary moratorium for planning purposes, state law bars it from imposing a permanent ban, the Daily Record reported. What the ordinance does is give county staff time to write development standards for a land use that, according to the county's own draft ordinance, the current Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code do not specifically address.

What the Ordinance Covers

The draft ordinance text, presented to commissioners as item 9 of the Oct. 6 agenda, sets up two categories of projects:

  • Medium-scale data centers: facilities generally housing 2,000 to 5,000 servers with 5 megawatts to 49 megawatts of capacity, according to the draft.
  • Large-scale data centers: projects that meet the definition in section 373.203 of the Florida Statutes. The draft also covers phased or campus-style projects.

For projects in those categories, the draft ordinance bars the county from accepting, processing, scheduling or approving discretionary approvals. Those include comprehensive plan amendments, rezonings, planned unit developments, special use permits, site plans, and building permits that need a prior discretionary approval.

The draft lists several exemptions. Complete applications that the county determined to be sufficient before Nov. 1, 2026 can go ahead. So can existing, lawfully established data centers, along with routine maintenance and similar work.

Under Section 9 of the draft, the moratorium ends on the earliest of three dates: Oct. 31, 2027; the date the county adopts permanent regulations; or the date the ordinance is repealed.

The Oct. 6 draft text is not consistent on dates: Section 5 says the moratorium is effective Oct. 1, 2026, and Section 12 says the ordinance becomes effective Nov. 1, 2026. The Nov. 3 agenda item and the Daily Record's account of the vote both give an effective date of Nov. 15, 2026. Jacksonville Today, by contrast, reported that the ban goes into effect immediately.

What the Staff Study Will Examine

Section 7 of the draft ordinance directs county staff to study how data centers should be regulated. The listed topics include future land use, zoning districts, transmission infrastructure, backup generation, fuel storage, cooling technologies, and potable and reclaimed water demand.

Speaking to commissioners at the Oct. 6 meeting, West said the county's existing Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code contain no specific standards for data centers, the Daily Record reported.

Jacksonville Today reported that commissioners are concerned about the effect of large-scale data centers on water and electricity. It also reported that Commissioner Christian Whitehurst, who had been skeptical of the need for the moratorium, voted for it.

The State Law Behind It

The ordinance cites Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, which the Legislature passed as CS/CS/SB 484, "Data Centers." According to the Florida Senate's bill page, the governor approved the law on May 8, 2026, and its listed effective date is July 1, 2026, except as otherwise provided. The Senate summary says the law:

  • specifies that local governments maintain authority over comprehensive planning and land development regulations as they relate to large load customers;
  • requires public utilities to provide certain minimum tariff and service requirements for large load customers;
  • prohibits water management districts and the Department of Environmental Protection from issuing consumptive-use permits to large-scale data centers under certain circumstances; and
  • requires the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) to contract for a study relating to large-scale data centers.

The draft ordinance also cites section 163.326 of the Florida Statutes, which it says the 2026 law created.

The state law also limits how far counties can go. West told commissioners Oct. 6 that state legislation restricts local governments from adopting more burdensome or restrictive development regulations, according to the Daily Record. The Daily Record reported that the state's interdisciplinary study is scheduled for completion in July 2027, a few months before the county moratorium's outside expiration date.

How It Got Here

According to the Oct. 6 agenda item and the Nov. 3 agenda, the board directed the County Attorney on Sept. 1, 2026 to draft a temporary planning moratorium. The Oct. 6 agenda item carries a legal sign-off from Rich Komando dated Sept. 21, 2026.

The ordinance was first presented on Oct. 6. That agenda item said a public hearing to consider enactment would be held Oct. 20, 2026. Commissioners adopted the ordinance at the Nov. 3 meeting, which the agenda scheduled for 9 a.m. in the County Auditorium at 500 San Sebastian View.

The five-member board, according to the Nov. 3 agenda, is Christian Whitehurst (District 1), Sarah Arnold (District 2), Chair Clay Murphy (District 3), Krista Joseph (District 4) and Vice Chair Ann Taylor (District 5).

A Regional Pattern

St. Johns is not the first Northeast Florida county to pause data center applications. The Daily Record reported that neighboring Nassau County approved its own moratorium on June 8, a temporary pause of up to 12 months. Jacksonville Today reported that Clay County also approved a moratorium, and that Flagler, Lake and Volusia counties have also passed bans.

What Happens Next

The moratorium is scheduled to take effect Nov. 15, 2026, according to the Nov. 3 agenda and the Daily Record. From that date the county will not accept, process or approve covered discretionary applications for medium- or large-scale data centers, apart from the exemptions in the ordinance as drafted. While the pause is in place, the draft ordinance directs county staff to carry out the study described in Section 7.

The state's interdisciplinary study of large-scale data centers under SB 484 is scheduled for completion in July 2027, the Daily Record reported. The St. Johns moratorium expires Oct. 31, 2027, or earlier if the county adopts permanent regulations or repeals it. In Nassau County, commissioners are scheduled to vote on fact-finding committee recommendations on Jan. 25, according to the Daily Record.

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