- August 3, 2026
Flagler County commissioners unanimously approved a one-year moratorium on new data centers in unincorporated Flagler County on Monday, giving county staff time to research the industry and develop zoning and land development regulations before considering future proposals.
The ordinance, approved on second reading, temporarily prohibits new data center development while the county evaluates how such facilities could affect electrical infrastructure, water resources, noise, land use and surrounding communities. The action follows months of discussion about the rapid growth of the data center industry and concerns raised by residents about its potential impacts.
Chair Leann Pennington said the ordinance is intended to give the county time to determine whether data centers are appropriate for the community before applications move forward.
"It's the second reading of a one-year moratorium against data centers in the unincorporated Flagler County while research is done to determine if they are viable for our community," Pennington said.
Commissioner Kim Carney said she had received feedback from residents since the ordinance's first reading and believes the county will need to distinguish between different types of data centers as it develops permanent regulations.
"There are different types of data centers," Carney said. "I think we might end up having to categorize or define the data center and at what point it's a viable data center."
Commissioner Andy Dance proposed broadening the ordinance before final approval by removing references to only "large-scale" data centers and "large load customer facilities." Dance said he wanted to ensure the moratorium applied to every type of data center while the county conducts its review.
"I want it to be clear... that we're including everything," Dance said. "That is the purpose of our review, is to analyze each type differently. They could require different codes or requirements, and I just want to make sure that we're not hurting ourselves with language in the ordinance."
County Attorney Michael Rodriguez agreed with the recommendation and advised commissioners that the simplest approach would be to strike the references to "large-scale" facilities while leaving the ordinance's existing definition of a data center intact.
"You can actually state that you'll approve the ordinance with the amendment to strike 'large scale,' and basically where Section 3 of the ordinance says 'large-scale data center' or 'large load customer facility,' we can just leave that to be 'data center,' which is defined in the ordinance," Rodriguez said.
Dance then moved to approve the ordinance with the amendment, and Carney seconded the motion. Following a brief public comment period with no speakers, commissioners unanimously approved both the amendment and the ordinance.
The moratorium applies only to unincorporated Flagler County and does not affect projects within municipal boundaries.
Earlier in the meeting, Pennington distinguished the county's action from Palm Coast's recent approval of the DC Blox cable landing station project, noting that the county has not approved any data center projects and hopes to complete its research before considering future proposals.
"I would love to see the City of Palm Coast join us in doing the research before we bring data centers here," Pennington said. "Hopefully they will look at that again before they allow such things to occur."
With Monday's vote, the county now has up to one year to study the issue and draft regulations governing where and how data centers could be developed before the moratorium expires.
