Datacenter Moratorium Proposed –Hamilton County BOCC 2026-07-08

On July 22, 2026, a datacenter moratorium comes up for second reading at the Madison County, Florida, Board of County Commissioners, when they can also vote to pass it.

They already read it once on July 8, after working on it for some time before that.

Datacenter Moratorium Proposed, Hamilton County BOCC, First Reading 2026-07-08, Second Reading & Vote 2026-07-22

The agenda and board packet for their Regular Meeting, July 8, 2026, contains a public notice, a recently-passed state datacenter law with highlights on parts applicable to local ordinances, a Business Impact Estimate for the proposed ordinance, a redline version of the ordinance showing changes since its previous draft, and the nine-page datacenter moratorium ordinance itself.

Every county should be as diligent and transparent, no matter in which state.

The east border of Madison County is the Withlacoochee River downstream from Georgia and upstream from the Suwannee River, with first-magnitue Madison Blue Spring in between. Madison County, like all counties in the Suwannee River Basin, is on top of the Floridan Aquifer from which we all drink for every purpose.

The ordinance does not explicitly name any of the rivers or springs or the aquifer, but it does include these sections, which are relevant.

2.5 Data Center Facilities are known to require substantial water resources for cooling systems and substantial electrical power to support continuous computing operations, which in some cases require infrastructure demands comparable to small municipalities.
2.6 Data Center Facilities have the potential to place significant demands on regional groundwater supplies, water treatment infrastructure, and electrical grid capacity.
2.7 The County currently lacks sufficient local comprehensive planning and/or land development regulations to properly address the unique planning, infrastructure, and compatibility considerations presented by Data Center Facilities, including considerations related to infrastructure capacity, land use compatibility, environmental impacts, and the efficient provision of public facilities and services.
2.8 Allowing the siting of Data Center Facilities to proceed without appropriate regulatory standards could create risks to the County’s water resources, electrical infrastructure capacity, land use planning objectives, and long-term community development strategy.
2.9 Local governments may enact moratoriums if the moratorium is intended to preserve the status quo and is rationally related to the government’s attempt to enact changes to development regulations. WCI Communities Inc. v. City of Coral Springs, 885 So. 2d 912 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004).

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5.1 First Reading for Proposed Ordinance Imposing a Temporary Moratorium on the Acceptance, Review, Processing, or Approval of any Applications for any Land Use Change, Rezoning, Conditional Use Permit, Development Permit, Site Plan Approval, Building Permits or Other Development Approval for the Construction, Expansion, or Operation of Data Center Facilities
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9.1 Legislative Update from Representative Allison Tant and Senator Corey Simon.
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Images are below of the other pages relevant to the proposed datacenter moratorium.

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

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A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.

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