Commissioner Land urges data-center workshop after Suwannee Valley site plan

Commissioner Land told the Suwannee County Board that a 26-acre Suwannee Valley-owned parcel in Louisville has a site plan from a tenant proposing small solar fields with on-site battery storage and so-called "cold storage" units, not an active data-processing campus. "It is not a data center," Commissioner Land said, adding the company will operate small solar fields, store energy in batteries and lease cold-storage units that he described as backup memory storage.

Public commenters pushed the board to devote time to fact-finding and public education. Beau Hancock of American Patriots urged the board to "schedule a workshop on data centers" and study water, wastewater, electrical grid impacts, noise, traffic and land-use compatibility before a larger facility arrives. A resident who identified himself as Snyder, who works in IT, said cold storage and server racks can generate substantial heat and noise and asked the county to collect and publish technical details so residents can vet claims.

County staff and legal counsel told the board the proposed use appears allowable under current land-development regulations and that the tenant's site plan and building-permit filings are public records. Commissioners and staff said a workshop will be scheduled to give the board and the public more information and to consider zoning or LDR adjustments if state law allows. The board did not take regulatory action at the meeting; commissioners said they want to gather facts and hold a future public workshop as requested by speakers.