Nassau County moves closer to pausing data center developments with temporary moratorium (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — A pause on data center developments in Nassau County has moved closer to reality.
Commissioners were quick to unanimously approve a first read of a temporary moratorium Monday night that could temporarily halt applications for such developments, giving county officials time to consider tightening legislative guardrails.
If approved during a second and final reading during commissioners’ regular meeting June 8, the temporary moratorium would put a pause on any developments related to data centers for up to 12 months.
The legislative action arrived a week after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law imposing regulations on data centers, with the rise of artificial intelligence.
The measure, SB 484, reinforces the ability of local governments to refuse to build data centers in their jurisdictions. However, it also allows city and county governments to enter into non-disclosure agreements with tech companies for up to 12 months, which would hide data center proposals from the public during that time.
During Monday’s meeting, Nassau Board of County Commissioners Chair Alyson McCullough said the county has not received any applications for data center developments nor entered into any NDAs.
“This will allow [commissioners] time to review passing regulations, zoning, conditional use, proper use,” said County Attorney Denise May in a presentation to the board about the temporary moratorium’s purpose, emphasizing that it’s not a ban.
Nassau’s potential pause advances months after Miami-based NextNRG (NASDAQ: NXXT) announced plans to build a solar farm on 1,600 acres of land in the North Florida county.
That September announcement included what NextNRG called “potential” for data center and hyperscaler development on 400 acres of that land — met by immense public backlash.
“Nassau County has the land, the power, the water, and the connectivity,” said NextNRG CEO Michael Farkas at the time, “and when you add NextNRG’s hybrid energy technologies, you get a site that’s capable of supporting the future of hyperscale computing.”
Multiple Nassau County residents spoke during Monday’s meeting, slamming data center developments at-large and urging commissioners to pass the temporary moratorium.
NextNRG has already invested more than $5 million in the Nassau project, Farkas said in a recent interview with the Business Journal. But work at the site hinges on whether NextNRG can successfully secure a power purchase agreement with JEA. No agreements have been made for JEA to purchase power from NextNRG, a utility spokesperson confirmed in April.
Farkas has since clarified the company’s primary focus is on the solar project. He noted last month that data centers emerged as a potential alternative to still “monetize” the land, if the JEA deal never materialized.
“It could potentially be an amazing place for a data center,” Farkas said. “That’s not really what our intent was.”