Tell City of Alachua: Pause Data Centers, Don’t Pave the Way

Pause Data Centers, Don’t Pave the Way - Enact a Data Center Moratorium

Dear Mayor Welch, City Commissioners, and the City of Alachua Planning & Zoning Board: I urge the Planning & Zoning Board to strike proposed Policy 1.5.e in its entirety and recommend that the City adopt a temporary moratorium on large-scale and high-intensity data centers while it studies their impacts and develops appropriate protections. Alachua does not need to rush. Across Florida, communities are choosing to pause before allowing this intensive land use. At least 13 counties and several cities currently have data-center moratoriums, while others have adopted outright prohibitions. Escambia, Jackson, and Walton counties have all moved to prohibit certain large-scale data-center uses. That should send a clear message to Alachua: proceed with caution. A recent warning comes from Alabama, where Inside Climate News reported that proposed data centers, if fully built, could consume more electricity than all of the state’s homes combined. That raises an essential question for every community considering these projects: Who will pay for the power plants, transmission lines, substations, water infrastructure, and other upgrades needed to serve them? Alachua should answer those questions before, not after, changing its Comprehensive Plan. The City should fully study: * Water demand and impacts on the aquifer * Electric-grid capacity and infrastructure costs * Who pays for new utility infrastructure * Noise from cooling systems and backup generators * Air pollution and emergency-generation impacts * Land-use compatibility with nearby homes and businesses * Long-term financial risks if demand projections change * Impacts on future growth and industrial land availability A moratorium would give the City time to obtain independent information, hear from residents, review what other Florida communities are doing, and determine whether large-scale data centers belong in Alachua at all. Requested Action Please recommend that the City Commission: 1. Strike proposed Policy 1.5.e in its entirety; 2. Adopt a temporary moratorium on large-scale and high-intensity data centers; and 3. Use that pause to study the full water, energy, infrastructure, environmental, land-use, and financial impacts before considering any future policy. Alachua should not create a pathway for these facilities first and investigate the consequences later. Pause now. Study the impacts. Protect the public interest before making a decision that could shape Alachua for decades. There is little risk in taking the time to get this right. There could be tremendous consequences if we get it wrong. Respectfully,