BREAKING: Haines City Had Signed Written Letter of support for AI Data Center Developer Seven Months Before Public Knew
BREAKING UPDATE: July 1, 2026, 4:12 P.M.
The Citrus Tea submitted questions to Haines City commissioners earlier this week. City offices have been occupied with budget meetings, and we had not received responses from any commissioner until today, July 1, when Commissioner Anne Huffman responded directly to our inquiry.
Haines City, Fla. — Commissioner Anne Huffman responded to The Citrus Tea’s inquiry Wednesday, confirming she was not aware of the concurrence letter and that what she has been told by Interim City Manager Loyd Stewart does not match what the document shows.
“Your email comments and the concurrency letter attachment leaves me speechless and that’s a rarity,” Huffman wrote. “This is VERY different from what I was told by the Interim City Manager, Loyd Stewart, as recent as yesterday.”
Huffman added: “Transparency is one of the main cornerstones of Public Trust and it wasn’t provided to ME as an elected official and the Haines City residents. I remain steadfast on my position to oppose the Cielo Data Center and should it come before the city commission my vote will be NO!”
Huffman becomes the second Haines City commissioner on record opposing the project, joining Vice Mayor Kim Downing, who issued a public statement of opposition on June 26. Her response also directly answers one of the key questions this story raised at publication: at least one elected commissioner was not informed of the concurrence letter’s existence. A Zoom interview with Deputy City Manager James Keene is scheduled for Thursday. The Citrus Tea will continue to update this story.
HAINES CITY, Fla. — While regional media outlets have reported that a proposed hyperscale artificial intelligence data center in Haines City stalled over a water shortage, documents obtained by The Citrus Tea reveal the city made a formal written commitment of support to the developer seven months before the public learned the project existed.
The Citrus Tea has obtained a concurrence letter dated November 17, 2025, signed by Haines City Deputy City Manager James Keene and addressed to Christopher J. Maier, Senior Vice President of Implementation at Cielo Digital Infrastructure. The letter commits the city in writing to pursuing a Water Use Permit modification with the Southwest Florida Water Management District on the developer’s behalf and closes by stating the city “looks forward to working with Cielo Digital Infrastructure to support the successful development of your data center campus in Haines City.”
The concurrence letter is not a development agreement, a formal approval, or a legal contract. No application, site plan, or zoning request has been filed. What the document does show, however, is that a working relationship between the city and Cielo Digital Infrastructure was already underway, and that the Deputy City Manager was actively supporting the project’s path forward — seven months before a single resident knew it was being discussed.
That language has not previously been reported.
Several regional media outlets have incorrectly attributed the city’s engagement with Cielo Digital Infrastructure to former City Manager James Elensky. The concurrence letter obtained by The Citrus Tea was signed by Deputy City Manager James Keene, who confirmed in written responses to The Citrus Tea that he attended the November 4, 2025 virtual meeting with Cielo representatives and signed the November 17 letter in his capacity as Deputy City Manager. Keene remains in that role today.
The project first became public knowledge at the June 18, 2026 Haines City Commission meeting, when resident Sue Suther addressed the commission during public comment, asking commissioners to reconsider what she described as the city’s approval of the Cielo project, a proposed 300-megawatt hyperscale AI data center estimated at $2.8 billion on 74 acres.
The commission was quick to clarify that no approval had been granted.
“Just so you know, the commission hasn’t approved any data center,” a commissioner told Suther at the meeting.
Interim City Manager Loyd Stewart then addressed the commission and public directly.
“This particular item has not even come before the board because the first step for this would be that they would have to get approval from the state to get the water concurrency with the city,” Stewart said. “We don’t have enough water to do it, so that’s the very basic level, but we’ve not received any plans or anything from them.”
“We have had a discussion with them about the water, and we told them that that was their first step. So there has been nothing that’s come before the commission, and at this point, we don’t even know if it will.”
While accurate on the question of formal applications, Stewart’s characterization did not reflect the existence of the November 2025 concurrence letter or the nature of the city’s written commitment to the developer made seven months earlier.
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In written responses to The Citrus Tea, Keene confirmed the introduction between Cielo and city staff came through the Haines City Economic Development Council, which markets vacant land in the city’s industrial corridor to potential developers. According to Merissa Green, Communications and Marketing Manager for the City of Haines City, the EDC’s standard process is to market available properties, facilitate contact when a developer expresses interest, and then connect that developer with city staff. The Haines City Rail Center, a 74-acre rail-served site at Marion Road and SR 544-E that the EDC has long marketed to potential developers, appears to be the same site referenced in the Cielo concurrence letter.
Keene confirmed he attended the November 4 virtual meeting with Cielo along with consultants currently working on the city’s existing Water Use Permit modification with SWFWMD.
On water capacity, Keene confirmed the city does not currently have sufficient permitted water capacity to meet Cielo’s request of 150,000 gallons per day. He said the city has added Cielo’s request to its own pending 16.42 million gallon-per-day WUP modification with SWFWMD, but noted that even if the city’s modification is approved, it would not accommodate Cielo’s additional demand. Cielo’s portion would require a separate SWFWMD Governing Board approval. The city anticipates its own permit modification to be approved by the end of 2026. No communication has been received from SWFWMD regarding Cielo’s portion of the request.
No formal application, site plan, development agreement, or zoning request has been received from Cielo Digital Infrastructure.
Keene also confirmed that Haines City’s land development regulations do not currently define data centers as a use category, because they are a relatively new use type. That means depending on how the city interprets its own code, a data center application could potentially be processed as a permitted use within an existing zoning classification without triggering a required public hearing. As of June 29, 2026, no moratorium or policy discussion related to large-scale data center development has taken place in Haines City.
Two days after the June 18 commission meeting, Vice Mayor Kim Downing issued a formal written statement making her position clear.
“I would like to clarify that there is currently no proposal, application, or pending plan for a data center before our board for consideration,” Downing said. “Any information suggesting that a data center project is being proposed or reviewed at this time is inaccurate.”
Downing also stated her opposition to the project on its merits.
“I am opposed to the data center project if or when it comes before us,” she said. “While I support responsible growth and economic development, I have concerns about the potential impact a project of this magnitude could have on our community, including increased demands on infrastructure, energy and water resources, traffic, noise, and the overall quality of life for our residents.”
Commissioner Anne Huffman has also stated public opposition to the project.
The Deputy City Manager has been open to answering questions and has scheduled a follow up ahead of tomorrow’s city meeting. The Citrus Tea also submitted questions to The Board, including Mayor Vernel Smith, Vice Mayor Downing, and Commissioners Huffman, Arroyo, and West regarding whether the commission was aware of the concurrence letter before the June 18 meeting, whether staff had commission authorization to pursue data center development as an economic priority, and whether the commission considers the letter’s support as still in effect. Commissioner Anne Huffman’s response is included in the update at the beginning of this article.
The Citrus Tea also submitted questions to Cyndi Jantomaso, President and CEO of the Haines City Economic Development Council, regarding the EDC’s role in the Cielo introduction and whether any commissioners were briefed on the developer’s interest. As of the time of publication, we have not received a response.
The Citrus Tea will update this story as we learn more, including following Thursday’s CRA meeting and Haines City Commission meeting, where the public will have an opportunity to weigh in during public comment.
Residents who wish to attend can do so Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in City Commission Chambers at Haines City Hall, 620 E. Main Street. A CRA board meeting precedes the regular commission meeting at 5:30 p.m. Meeting recordings are available at pub-hainescity.escribemeetings.com. For information on city business, visit hainescity.com.
Sources: Concurrence Letter, City of Haines City to Cielo Digital Infrastructure, November 17, 2025, obtained by The Citrus Tea; Written responses, Deputy City Manager James Keene, City of Haines City, June 29, 2026; Written clarification, Merissa Green, Communications and Marketing Manager for the City of Haines City, June 29, 2026; Official statement, Vice Mayor Kim Downing, City of Haines City Seat 4, June 26, 2026; Haines City Commission public comment transcript, June 18, 2026, pub-hainescity.escribemeetings.com
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect the following corrections. Merissa Green’s title was incorrectly identified as communications liaison. Her correct title is Communications and Marketing Manager for the City of Haines City. Additionally, former Haines City City Manager Jim Elensky’s name was misspelled in an earlier version of this article. Both errors have been corrected in the text above. The headline and editor’s note were also updated to more precisely reflect that the concurrence letter represented a written commitment to move the data center project forward contingent on state water approval, and not an official approval, as that would require a vote before the full commission. The Citrus Tea is committed to accuracy and transparency in all of our reporting and will continue to update this story as new information becomes available.
