Data center restrictions tracker · Florida

Lakeland City Commission, Florida: data center moratorium (2026)

Data snapshot 2026-08-15 · part of Pricing the Fear of Data Centers

Lakeland City Commission, in Polk County, Florida, adopted a data-center moratorium on July 6, 2026. Its status in this snapshot is pending.

The record reads: "The City of Lakeland released a proposed ordinance creating a temporary moratorium on data centers and large-load electric customers (over 50 MW/month); a public hearing was held July 6, 2026. The move follows Florida SB484, signed by Gov.… (datacentertracker.org)."

Details

ActionClassStatusDateMW thresholdScopeSource
MoratoriumrestrictionpendingJuly 6, 2026not county-widedatacentertracker.org

Jurisdiction type: municipality. County: Polk County. Dataset: datacentertracker. Snapshot August 15, 2026; documented actions, not a census.

Elsewhere in Polk County

Florida context

Florida has 22 documented local actions across 20 jurisdictions in this snapshot. At the state level, the state has a ratepayer-protection law (enacted).

A town that says no to a data center gives up local tax revenue, not jobs: one large campus pays $2M to $90M a year depending on the tax regime, against roughly 50 permanent jobs. The parent piece prices it and lists the conditions that beat a ban.

Sources

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