Joining a backlash sweeping the country against data centers, the Flagler County Commission last week enacted Northeast Florida’s second one-year moratorium on data center construction, after Nassau County did so in mid-June. Flagler County’s initiative was spurred by County Commissioner Andy Dance, who sits on the Northeast Florida Regional Planning Council, where the Nassau moratorium has been debated.
There are no data centers planned in the county, and the commission is not taking a stand against data centers should a company apply to build one. But existing land use regulations don’t address data centers specifically. The moratorium gives the county room to draft that wording without surprises.
“The purpose of the moratorium is to temporarily pause all new data centers, regardless of size, while we determine what the regulations are that are appropriate,” Dance said.
Over the next 12 months the county will research and draft a regulatory ordinance that will include definitions of data centers, from the larger kind to the smaller kind, “those which would be permissible, those which would not be permissible,” and where they may be located, County Attorney Michael Rodriguez said.
The draft the county approved on first reading had limited the moratorium to large-scale data centers. Dance opposed the exclusion of smaller centers.
“My concern is we’re unintentionally narrowing the scope of the moratorium before we’ve even begun the planning process,” he said. “I want it to be clear, and maybe the wording adjusted so that the references to large scale and large load customer facilities is removed, and we focus on all data centers because that is the purpose of our review: is to analyze each type differently.”
The proposed ordinance was amended accordingly before Dance motioned for approval ahead of a unanimous vote.
“My hope,” Dance said, “is that the board will use the next 12 months as a public educational process, with presentations from subject-matter experts and periodic progress reports so both the board and the public can follow the work as it develops, rather than waiting until the end of the moratorium.”
Data centers power the internet and are the backbone of the artificial intelligence phenomenon transforming computing, the economy and the stock market, with few guardrails, if any. Depending on their size, purpose and engineering, data centers consume colossal amounts of energy and water, causing utility bills to spike, and can generate unnerving noise pollution. Numerous communities have rebelled.
Starting in April 2023, Palm Coast government teamed up with DC Blox, an Atlanta-based company that builds data centers, to build a data center–specifically, a cable-landing station–in Town Center. The city and the company kept the project secret, exercising a provision in state law that allows certain economic development projects to remain confidential for up to two years.
In February 2024, the Palm Coast City Council amended the Town Center development order to specifically allow for data centers in the Town Service and Town Business areas of the Town Center development. That made data centers allowable by right in those two zones. They still are, despite recent action by the city to amend its Land Development Code to require certain regulatory steps before data centers are allowed. The secrecy about the DC Blox center persisted through much of 2025 as opposition to data centers became a nonpartisan rallying cry here and elsewhere.
In May, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law, known as Senate Bill 484, regulating data centers and granting local governments authority to do likewise. State regulation addresses larger data centers, defined as centers that use 50 megawatts of electricity or more, limiting (but not eliminating) their ability to tap into electric grids or secure water permits.
The DC Blox data center is projected to use up to 10 megawatts, according to the company, or enough to power 5,000 to 8,000 homes (the figures can vary based on peaks and troughs in consumption). That’s in the range of power consumption by vehicle assembly plants, paper mills and larger hospitals.
“The total consumption of data centers, however, does not show the entire context of their electricity demand,” a legislative analysis of the new state law’s bill states. “Data centers, thus far in the United States, have tended to be spatially concentrated, with the data center sector surpassing 10 percent of electricity consumption in five states as of 2024. A single large or hyperscale data center consuming 20 to 100 MW of electricity continuously can have the electricity demand equivalent of 15,000 to 75,000 United States homes or more (the equivalent of a single small city). A large 650 MW facility would be the equivalent of 500,000 homes.
“For comparison, the U.S. Census Reporter estimates that Orange County, Florida, currently has 556,557 total households and Florida has a total of 8.967 million households. Thus the growth of data centers in an area can lead to considerable strain on local electric grids—especially with the considerable mismatch between the speed with which data centers can be constructed and the ability to get approval for and build new generation capacity and interconnect that generation into the electric transmission grid. Data center-driven increases in demand may have also lead to an increase in electricity prices for consumers, at least in the short term (while the medium and long term impact on overall electric rates is still debated).”
But the legislative analysis’s numbers should also be put in perspective. Fuel consumption for a single transatlantic flight could power 50 to 80 homes for a year. There are up to 1,800 transatlantic flights a day. A single day’s flights could power three times the number of households in Flagler County for a year–or all the county’s households for three years. No one is clamoring for restricting transatlantic flights.
The Town Center data center’s current footprint is 34,000 square feet. In a local radio interview in June a DC Blox official said the center will grow to 100,000 square feet, only to walk back the projection after a public outcry and a correction by city officials. “Should DC Blox wish to construct additional buildings on the site in the future,” the city said in a statement, “those proposals would require separate review and approval through the city’s development review process. Any future expansion would be evaluated based on the regulations in place at the time of application and would be subject to all applicable public review requirements.” DC Blox is not barred from applying for an expansion.
Land of no turn signals says says
Just watched a program on these data centers and it was enlightening.They receive large tax breaks and discounted electric rates that are passed off to the regular consumer in the form of an increase of rates.Data centers should be allowed to build in Flagler county.
Standing in the Middle of Palm Coast Parkway says
What ‘program’ was that? The statement “They receive large tax breaks and discounted electric rates that are passed off to the regular consumer in the form of an increase in rates” is just a garbage generality.
The facts are that one data center draws about the same amount of power as 4 big-box stores. A typical big-box retail store (around 50,000 to 100,000 square feet) consumes roughly 1 million to 2.5 million kWh annually. How many big-box stores are there in Flagler County?
What about when companies like Amazon build their distribution centers, each of which has a ‘computer room’ (i.e., a small data center) inside? An Amazon fulfillment or distribution center typically consumes between 2 to 6 megawatts (MW) of power continuously, translating to roughly 15,000 to 45,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity annually.
And what about all those electric vehicles and charging stations? A Tesla Supercharging station consumes between 700,000 kWh and 2.2 million kWh (0.7 to 2.2 GWh) annually. Each person who has a Tesla home charger uses 2.5 MWh to 4.5 MWh (2,500–4,500 kWh) per year. How many Teslas are driving on the roads and parked in garages in Flagler County?
Flagler County is the land of mostly nice people who think they are politicians who wrap themselves in the flag and recite the party line. Oh yeah, and bend to whatever the mood is on social media. They don’t know squat about how to build the tax base. But through so-called ‘legislation’ like this moratorium, they might as well put up a sign on I-95 saying ‘Business is not welcome here’.
Deborah Coffey says
Question: Do data centers get tax breaks?
AI: Yes, data centers frequently receive tax breaks. Thirty-eight U.S. states offer dedicated tax incentives—such as sales tax exemptions on servers, computers, and cooling equipment, property tax abatements, and occasionally exemptions on electricity usage—to attract these facilities.
Question: Do data centers get discounted electric bills?
AI: Yes, utility companies sometimes make secret or special direct deals with large tech companies to attract data centers, which can include discounted electricity rates or favorable terms. However, these hidden agreements often leave regular residential and small business ratepayers to cover the infrastructure shortfalls through rising monthly power bills.
Laurel says
Thank you Deborah!
Jeff Parker says
What?
Deborah Coffey says
Vote them all out. They don’t have a clue and never did.
HayRide says
Came here for the comments, you know the uninformed and misinformed will be in to check in with their armchair knowledge.
JimboXYZ says
Not sure it’s uninformed/misinformed with the numbers presented in the article. And it’s not armchair or Monday AM quarterbacking for the resources of water & any other infrastructure. Water is what it is for the area, nobody really creates more or less water here, just how controlled the pollution is for growth. We have our droughts, we have wet monsoon month(s) and then there’s average water levels. What Palm Coast does determines water for the entire county. Already approved is Westward Expansion (22K residential) & New Bunnell growth (6K residential). Town Center projects suing over profits for lack of sewage capacity & water. And now they want to place additional strain & burden on that ? Why aren’t the data centers paying for that additional capacity ? There’s really no hiding inflation for rates on a limited supply of water anyway really. We are just concerned, trying to avoid wild fires like Flagler County had in 1998, California had in Jan 2025, the state of FL has had in 2026. If this is a masses of overpopulation & an overutilization of resources thing, these data centers should be operated at cost, not inflationary salaries & compensation packages, but compensate those execs for average wages of the county not their millionaire/billionaire/trillionaire compensation packages. I bet you, if limitations on their compensation packages are $ 15/hour minim wage level, they aren’t exactly giddy about being here. At a certain point the data collecting & selling economy sector of a market on the backside of the internet has to end. Not all this data on the internet is worthy of being saved. The paperless thing may have saved trees, but it also created digital storage nightmares of economy of scale. I’m pretty much fed up with being approached for every new technology, that some EULA requires that I agree to grant that corporation unlimited use of “my data” that they collect & store in something that they have to build a data center in my world, charge me more for water to cool those down, water that they don’t create, but is vital to the City/County, not to mention the environment. It’s bad enough they use “our data” to find creative ways to sell all of us crap nobody wants nor needs. The human race has grown to that critical mass. Alfinville, FL, USA is a mess. There’s no escaping the corporate greed. It’s not better, it was a Vision of 2050, that failed by 2025. There’s a reason Alfin wasn’t re-elected, at least Biden-Harris-Walz had an excuse for Biden’s cancer and he was losing anyway because of Bidenomics that continues. Exhausted from paying more to end up with less, lower quality of life and anything else that is the reality of the lies of growth paying for itself. I warned of that from the day Biden took office, the day Alfin did too. So that’s not misinformed/uninformed, it’s calling balls & strikes. How did I ever predict this is where we would be ? The one’s touting growth paying for itself are those that are positioned to profit most at the expense of the masses. That’s if they aren’t, outright already getting paid off for the deal at the expense of the masses. If they aren’t already getting paid, the networking is there to profit most from their affiliations. That’s just the nature of the business world end of it.
Look where Boston Whaler is in August 2026 for a Flagler County facility. I warned the day they closed it would suck locally here, and it did/does. How did I ever predict that ? One doesn’t need to have a crystal ball, they’ve closed facilities, reduced labor/work forces in others. Anyone in Flagler County wanna trade out quality of life of Palm Coast, FL for Edgewater, FL ? 1990-ish I witnessed Boston Whaler as they relocated from the Massachusetts facilities to Edgewater, FL. I was a resident of Port Orange, FL at the time. And it wasn’t long after that Boston Whaler was sold to Reebok & restructured. Trust me on it, I lost a job/career & had to sell a home. That’s why I was against Boston Whaler being here in the 1st place. Fiberglass boat manufacturing is a nasty chemical process, Boats/ships aren’t fuel efficient at any size. They are polluters. A necessary evil for global trade, not so much for the drunk weekend captain ? Where are data centers on that level of industrial pollution ?
Tired of it says
Please give it a rest. trump and the Republicans have been in control for two years. He has had plenty of time to undo any of the effects of “Bidenomics”. But he has been too busy gilding statues, redesigning aiports, building ballrooms, putting his name on anything that doesn’t move, accepting bribes, I mean airplanes from terrorist countries, completely screwing up the Reflecting Pool, designing a tacky arch, starting an unwinable war, cutting Medicare Part D, cutting SNAP, giving tax breaks to billionaires, cutting subsidies to the Afordable Care Act, pardoning the domestic terrorists that attacked the Capitol, , increasing the national debt, using our tax dollars to persecute his “enemies”l, alienating our allies…I could go on and on. And I am still waiting for his promised healthcare plan.
Laurel says
Oh, go ahead. Inform us.
Pogo says
3 comments so far
… 2 of the 3 — dumb as a sack of hammers.
We’re still in Floriduh Toto.
Laurel says
Hammers are more useful.
Ray W. says
According to a Seeking Alpha story, in 2023, the lead time for delivery of an ordered gas turbine was 42 months. By 2025, the lead time for delivery of an ordered gas turbine was 60 months.
Only three companies manufacture gas turbines: GE Vernova, Siemens Energy and Mitsubishi Heavy Power.
My elder daughter’s husband, an engineer, began working on gas turbines as a college intern with Mitsubishi nearly 20 years ago. Mitsubishi already has a turbine blade manufacturing plant located near Savannah. All three of the turbine manufacturing companies are already at build capacity. All three are in the planning stages of expanding their gas turbine manufacturing capacity, but it will take years for any of them to increase manufacturing output.
According to the story, prices for gas turbines at delivery are skyrocketing. JPMorgan, writes the reporter, issued a note predicting to its investors that a gas turbine delivered in 2031 will be three times as costly as those just delivered in 2025. Wood-McKenzie estimates that gas turbine prices will rise by 195% by 2027.
A record number of gas turbines are on order, with half being ordered by U.S. companies seeking to build new CCGT power plants. Many of the orders will eventually go to power plants that will provide electricity to data centers not yet built. A few months ago, a prospective power plant builder failed to secure adequate financing. In bankruptcy, the company’s most valuable asset was the right to a near-future delivery of a gas turbine.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
The data center industry has numerous projects still in the planning stages. Is it fair to think that not all of the pending data center projects will ever see the light of day? Is it one thing to clear permitting, yet another to obtain sufficient financing? Many projects can seem worthy, yet fail in the competitive AI/data center boom. Will turbine manufacturers spend hundreds of millions to expand production capacity and suddenly see a collapse of existing orders?
Pogo says
The answer may start showing up this winter in the breadlines that were caused in the fall that started in this fall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ236CwhlPw&list=RDPJ236CwhlPw&start_radio=1
Laurel says
We need massive consumption data centers why?
These centers were kept in secret why?
These privately owned tech companies get land through eminent domain because why?
These data centers get tax breaks why?
So AI can be be best friends of the lonely, and stroke weak egos?
How did we ever get along without this in the past?
Standing in the Middle of Palm Coast Parkway says
We need massive consumption data centers why? Because you can’t stop posting to FlaglerLive.
These centers were kept in secret why? Because for-profit businesses compete against each other and try to keep competitors from knowing what they are doing.
These privately owned tech companies get land through eminent domain because why? Again, garbage. Where is this happening? Commercial companies can’t get anything through eminent domain. Only governments can use those laws.
These data centers get tax breaks why? Because they bring tax-paying businesses and jobs to communities.
So AI can be be best friends of the lonely, and stroke weak egos? Using AI for medical research means less animal testing and offers the promise of finding cures for many diseases.
How did we ever get along without this in the past? Many of us are trying to make the world a better place for our children in the future. If you want to live in the past, that is your right.
Laurel says
You might want to get out of the road.
https://www.tftc.io/ai-data-center-eminent-domain-land-seizures-transmission-lines
https://fortune.com/2026/07/19/data-center-eminent-domain-public-use/
You invested, didn’t you?
Laurel says
By the way, government should not participate in private business secretiveness, as it should want competition to get the citizens the best deal.
There is a reason Trump’s no-bid contracts are a scandal.
Voted says
Taxpayers have noticed how sneaky the City and County Officials operate, everything they do is against what the taxpayers agree with but they do it under the table any way.
Please get out and vote these sneaks out of office.
Sayit'snotso says
😔 I thought flagler was green, with, all the protect the trees ! So many trees 🌳 you ,can’t see business. And blocks seeing traffic. But let’s let dc Blox get a foot hold and build , shame on all of you. Anyone in office needs to be voted out. Even if you didn’t make the decision, you should be yelling from the roof tops. These cables are a setting target. And these data centers. People will be signing off. More and more people, are turning computers off. And at this point who is going to be able to pay for internet, phones, elictric , .ai has been take job after job. No job no house no rental. Restate crash coming soon. (Everyone of you can then) (say I did that)… shame on you. Let me guess every county is doing it . We can make $ well if every county jumped off a bridge. Would you. Shame
Don says
Every opportunity this city and county has to grow jobs they throw away. The leaders here are all cowards, thy say Palm Coast want industrial to help with the tax burden on retirement individuals, yet they disapprove of a fuel terminal, an expantion of the concrete plant, bitch about the Cable landing, that just might be the most significant thing here for all time. The chance to make Plam Coast the southern silicon valley is at your door Answer it!
Michael John Lalikos says
They lied about the size of the buildings they are going to build to avoid regulations in Palm Coast. Behind closed door meetings.
That alone should be a disqualifier. Really, why do that if you are on the straight and narrow. Flagler Beach and Flagler County Citizens are not the priority, the Cable and Data Center Companies are. That is not right and points to Corruption.
Jeffery Cortland Seib says
This Palm Coast version of a Data Center, calling it a Cable landing Station to fool some of the people all of the time is an insult how this went through the approval process. The locals supporting this monstrosity say the power use and water use are compatible with other commercial buildings uses. But that not what I read, they use way more both power and water. Right now and for the foreseeable future FPL is supplying much of our power using Natural Gas, and paying way more since the Iran war. Data Centers use lots of our precious water also. The bottom line is they are 21st century facilities built with 19th century construction methods. The scary thing for me is the company building this has already said they will be tripling in size, three times the initial power and water use. But what I read is these places do what they call ‘clustering’ where they build one small facility after another and ultimately tie them all together for a monster sized Data Center. We don’t need Data Centers here to advance our city.
Laurel says
Big Brother, what big eyes you have!
The better to collect your personal data with!
Save Our Earth says
Billionaires are going to feed Trump money to allow them to build Data Centers all around the country. These centers are not good for the environment, they use extreme amounts of electricity, pollute water and the sounds out of the buildings are extremely loud.
Do they care NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, and Trump will jump at the pay offs.
They are destroying our countries safety which will destroy the earth we now live on They are that greedy that they don’t care.
Wake up people and stop this from happening.
Ray W. says
The Midland Reporter-Telegram reports that Texas Governor Abbott recently paused all of the estimated 1,800 pending data center projects in order to “audit” the feasibility of each project.
One aspect of the governor’s executive order is that auditors are to determine whether each proposed data center plans to provide for a separate off-grid power supply as opposed to the data center pulling power directly from the ERCOT grid.
Make of this what you will.