• Commissioners unanimously told staff to draft a moratorium covering AI data centres in unincorporated Hillsborough County
  • Staff will also examine land-use rules, including possible limits on county potable water for cooling

The fact

Hillsborough County commissioners unanimously directed staff to draft an ordinance imposing a moratorium on AI data-centre development in unincorporated parts of the county. In a separate vote, commissioners asked staff to review land-use regulations, including whether to limit or prohibit the use of county potable water for cooling data centres. Hillsborough currently has no active data-centre applications.

The moratorium has not been adopted. County officials said that, if approved, it would take effect after 1 October 2027 or earlier if the relevant provisions of Florida’s SB 180 are struck down. The state law restricts certain hurricane-affected local governments from adopting construction moratoriums or more restrictive land-development rules. An attempt to revise those restrictions during Florida’s 2026 legislative session died in the state House in March.

The assessment

The most concrete issue for future developers is whether Hillsborough turns cooling-water use into a development condition. If commissioners eventually restrict county potable water for data-centre cooling, applicants would have to address how their cooling systems are supplied when designing a project and preparing it for approval. That would bring water availability into the development process before construction begins.

No such requirement exists yet. Staff are examining possible rules, there are no active data-centre applications, and state law currently limits when Hillsborough can impose a moratorium or more restrictive land-use measures. The eventual ordinance will determine whether cooling-water restrictions are adopted and how they would apply.

For BTW readers, Hillsborough is trying to set infrastructure conditions before its first data-centre application arrives. If potable-water limits become part of those rules, future developers would need to address cooling-water supply in the project design submitted for approval, rather than treating it as a question to resolve later.

What to watch

The draft ordinance and land-use review should clarify whether Hillsborough adopts a specific restriction on potable water for cooling and which data-centre projects would be covered. The other milestone is October 2027, when the county says the current SB 180 restriction would no longer prevent the proposed moratorium from taking effect.