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Clay County commissioners adopt one‑year moratorium on AI data centers after lengthy public hearing
Summary
After hours of public testimony — including expert warnings about water, air and noise impacts and residents’ concerns about wells and flooding — the Clay County Board of County Commissioners voted 4–1 to impose a 12‑month moratorium directing staff to study large‑scale AI/data‑center permitting and possible local guardrails.
The Clay County Board of County Commissioners on June 23 voted 4–1 to impose a one‑year moratorium on permitting for large‑scale AI and hyperscale data centers while staff studies the environmental, infrastructure and legal implications.
The moratorium directs county staff to research how large data‑center projects affect water supplies, power grids, air emissions, noise, land‑use compatibility and whether local zoning, permitting or design standards can be used to manage those impacts. The board said staff should return with findings and draft code or ordinance language.
The vote followed more than two hours of public comment in a packed meeting room. Opponents warned that data centers could deplete groundwater and local well supplies, produce air pollutants and continuous noise from backup generators, and require major grid upgrades. “Closed loop does not mean no water use,” said Bruce Reynolds, a retired environmental protection specialist who urged commissioners to approve the moratorium so the county could study technical tradeoffs. Resident Joseph Tomellini said his farm floods now and told the board a development across the street would ‘‘most certainly overflow and flood my house and barn’’ if runoff and wetlands are not protected.
Supporters of allowing data centers argued the facilities can be built responsibly and that the county already relies on data‑storage systems for hospitals and local government. “Jacksonville’s data centers coexist with their community,” Marcia Garcia told the board, urging a cautious study rather than a de facto ban.
County staff and several commissioners noted legal and practical limits. Commissioner [unnamed, speaking as district commissioner] said state law and recent legislation limit local authority in some respects, and the county attorney confirmed staff will need to evaluate whether and how local regulation can be applied. Commissioner Jamie (speaker 1) said there are currently no active data‑center permit applications in Clay County and cautioned against diverting limited staff resources to an unlikely scenario, but nevertheless the majority supported a pause to ensure the county’s code and infrastructure can handle any future interest.
Chair (speaker 3) said the moratorium is intended to give staff time to prepare enforceable guardrails and to return to the board with recommended code language. The moratorium passed 4–1; the record vote was tallied by the chair and no individual commissioners were named in the roll call in the transcript.
Next steps: staff will research technical evidence on cooling and water use, grid impacts and legal restrictions, and will present findings and draft regulatory options to the board within the moratorium period. The board indicated it would also monitor state actions and recent legislation that affect local authority.
The moratorium does not change existing permits or land uses; county staff said previously permitted or currently permitted in‑house data centers (such as hospital systems or courthouse servers) may need to be considered separately in the final ordinance.
