- September 14, 2026
An 18-month moratorium on data centers is now active in the City of Ormond Beach. What's next? A ban on all data center facilities.
The City Commission approved on second reading an ordinance imposing a moratorium on all types of data centers during its meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 25. According to a city staff report, this will give staff the time to study and prepare amendments to the city's Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code to ban all types of data centers, including those categorized as "large-scale," defined as a facility that has an anticipated monthly peak load of 50 megawatts or more, calculated as the highest average load over a 15-minute interval.
Concerns over water and energy demands, noise and environmental impacts are some of the drivers behind the push to ban them. Florida Senate Bill 484, signed by the governor in May, allows local governments to implement regulations for data centers.
Ormond Beach has sent letters to both Volusia County and the rest of the county's municipalities to inform them of the steps the city is taking to ban large-scale data centers.
To other jurisdictions, Mayor Jason Leslie addressed their respective mayors, stating that "data center siting decisions do not stop at municipal boundaries."
"Demand on the electrical grid, water withdrawals, noise, and construction traffic all carry across city lines, and a facility approved in one jurisdiction can become a neighboring jurisdiction’s concern," the letter states. "For that reason, the Commission encourages your governing body to consider adopting a prohibition on data centers, or a moratorium that gives your staff room to write regulations before an application arrives."
To the County Council, Leslie's letter asked that Volusia draft its data center regulations "so that no gap opens between the county's rules and ours."
On Aug. 17, the County Council unanimously voted to pursue an ordinance that would ban large-scale data centers. City Attorney Randy Hayes explained that, though the county didn't impose a moratorium, it now has pending ordinance invocation, which means a data center can't file an application.
Ormond Beach city staff recommended the commission go the moratorium route.
"The moratorium is the essential first step in that process," Hayes said. "The county's doing the same thing, except through a different vehicle to get them there."
Based on current county zoning, all data centers were previously allowed under Heavy Industrial I-2 zoning.
Namely, the unincorporated area around Hull Road near the city limits of Ormond Beach.
Ormond Beach currently doesn't have any existing data centers. There are no applications in the pipeline for one either.
There are two data center uses (one existing, and one under construction) in proximity to the city, according to the staff report: A 10,000-square-foot data center in Daytona Beach, and the 33,000-square-foot DC Blox project coming to Palm Coast.
At Tuesday's meeting, the commission also discussed what potential amendments could be made to the comprehensive plan to address all types of data centers within the city. Ormond Beach's industrial land accounts for 3.4% of the city's acreage, a staff report states. A total of 78% of land in the city is made up of residential, park and open-space uses.
Based on this, city staff determined "data centers would present compatibility concerns and create extraordinary demands on infrastructure and utility systems."
The city's Land Development Code currently doesn't allow data centers as an allowed use. Possible amendments suggested by staff would formally establish a ban.
"The city of Ormond Beach does not allow data centers today," Planning Director Steven Spraker said. "So you're not making it any more restrictive or any more burdensome."
Staff was also seeking direction regarding the provision of utilities outside of its jurisdictional limits, including Flagler County and unincorporated Volusia County. A draft policy proposed that the city refuse to provide water to facilities that require "extraordinary infrastructure demand" — outlined as more than 2 megawatts of electrical demand and an average demand exceeding 50,000 gallons a day.
Before dictating a specific water usage limit for the policy, the commission wanted more data and feedback from the Planning Board to avoid impacts on existing non-data center uses.
