Santa Rosa County Holds First Data Center Moratorium Hearing Thursday — Residents Divided on Whether It Goes Far Enough

Santa Rosa County, FL (NewsRadio 92.3) -- Santa Rosa County holds its first public hearing Thursday morning on a proposed one-year moratorium on large-scale data centers and large-load customer facilities — and residents who showed up to Tuesday's committee meeting made clear the board is going to hear strong opinions on both sides of the question.

The hearing is at 8:30 a.m. at the Santa Rosa County Administrative Center boardroom at 6495 Caroline Street in Milton. State statute requires the county to hold two public hearings before the board can vote on the moratorium language. A second hearing date has not yet been announced.

Commissioner Kerry Smith, who brought the moratorium proposal to the board at the June 22nd meeting, has said a 12-month study period is the legally safest path — jumping straight to a permanent ban without first building a record of documented impacts risks triggering the Bert J. Harris Act, a state property rights law that allows landowners to sue local governments when new regulations restrict land use. Smith called going straight to a permanent ban the nuclear option.

But several residents who spoke Tuesday pushed back on that framing. Gulf Breeze tech executive Bill Cody presented commissioners with a 57-page legal opinion from Earth Justice attorneys in Miami arguing that local governments can deny data center applications based on their own comprehensive plans and land development regulations without triggering Bert Harris liability. Cody said the act is being used as a scare tactic and called the 12-month moratorium unnecessary, noting that Walton County has already permanently banned data centers and that Escambia County's attorney is preparing a regulatory ban ordinance for an August vote.

Pace resident Cindy Smith also questioned why the moratorium needs to last a full year, suggesting six months would be sufficient given the amount of research already available on data center impacts. She outlined several ways the county could structure its regulations to minimize Bert Harris exposure without waiting 12 months to act.

Not everyone Tuesday was in favor of a permanent ban. East Milton resident John Zmoniak said he supports the moratorium but stopped short of calling for a permanent prohibition, arguing that the nation needs computational infrastructure and that the real question is where data centers go — not whether they exist at all. He said Santa Rosa County's water resources alone are currently insufficient to support one, and that should be enough of a documented basis to deny any application.

Commissioner Ray Eddington cast the lone no vote at the June 22nd meeting — not because he supports data centers, but because he wanted a permanent ban rather than a temporary pause. Chairman Colten Wright was absent from that meeting. The vote was 3-1.

Thursday's hearing is open to the public. Written comments can also be submitted through an online form listed on the county's website.