Hillsborough Commissioners Vote 7-0 Twice to Aim a Moratorium at AI Data Centers, and to Keep Them Off County Drinking Water

Hillsborough County commissioners voted 7-0 twice to start walling the county off from hyperscale AI data centers, telling the County Attorney's Office to draft a moratorium ordinance and directing staff to build a regulatory framework for any future project. One idea already on the table would bar new data centers from cooling their servers with county drinking water, the specific fear driving residents in rural east county areas like Lithia, where families watch every rezoning and already live under watering restrictions.

The moratorium, though, cannot start now. Florida's SB 180 limits how much local governments can tighten development rules, so the ordinance being drafted would take effect after SB 180 expires on Oct. 1, 2027, or sooner if a court strikes the law down.

Vote	What it does
7-0	Directs staff to develop a regulatory framework for future data center projects, including possible limits on county drinking water for cooling
7-0	Directs the County Attorney's Office to draft a moratorium ordinance, effective once SB 180 lifts

The five-year ban that got rewritten at the dais

Commissioner Donna Cameron Cepeda came in pushing for an immediate five-year moratorium. She revised the proposal after a legal briefing from the County Attorney's Office, which warned the county would be exposed to lawsuits under SB 180. What survived is a moratorium written now and armed later.

That is a real difference for anyone hoping for a hard stop this year. Until SB 180 lapses, the county's leverage over a data center proposal is its existing zoning and comprehensive plan, not a ban.

Why water is the center of this fight

A hyperscale campus using evaporative cooling can draw between 1 million and 5 million gallons a day. Any such project in Hillsborough would also need a consumptive use permit from the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which has recently required a hyperscale applicant elsewhere in its district to clear a separate water permit at a public governing board meeting.

The county-level question is narrower and more direct: whether a private company can plug into the same treated municipal supply that residents pay for and ration. Commissioners have now put that in writing as something staff must address.

Electricity is the other half. Hillsborough sits inside Tampa Electric's territory, with Duke Energy serving some rural pockets, and a 2026 state law requires the Public Service Commission to set tariffs so very large power users cover their own cost of service instead of shifting it to residential ratepayers. Utilities are due to file those tariffs with the state. The same law leaves siting, capacity, and land-use compatibility to local comprehensive plans and land development regulations, which is why the argument landed at the county commission rather than in Tallahassee.

No application is pending

Speakers at the meeting raised University Energy Park, near State Road 60 and Dover Road, as a plausible landing spot. County staff confirmed no data center application is pending in Hillsborough.

That has not slowed the organizing. Preserve Rural Lithia, the grassroots group that formed over housing and rezoning pressure along Dorman Road and Lithia Pinecrest Road, has folded hyperscale data centers into its campaign. Its argument to commissioners is about sequence: Polk County's approval of a multibillion-dollar hyperscale complex in Fort Meade moved fast, and Florida law still lets economic development agencies shield project details for months, long enough for a proposal to arrive nearly finished.

Hillsborough joins a regional pattern

More than a dozen Florida counties have adopted data center moratoriums or moved toward them, including neighbors Pasco and Manatee. Hillsborough's version is the more cautious model: draft the ordinance, hold it, and spend the interim writing the land-use rules that will still be enforceable regardless of what happens to SB 180.

Both items now go back to county staff. The regulatory framework and the draft ordinance return to the board for review, and residents who want to weigh in can do it in the public comment portion of a regular commission meeting; the schedule and agendas are posted at hcfl.gov. Watch for whether the drinking water prohibition survives the drafting stage intact, because that is the piece with teeth before 2027.

For more on what county leaders are deciding and how it hits your bills and your neighborhood, keep up with Tampa Community Website and follow us on Facebook. Got a take on data centers in east Hillsborough? Join the conversation in our Community Forum. You can also read more government and politics stories and business development coverage.

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