Lakeland Commission Passes Data Center Moratorium In 4-3 Vote
LAKELAND, Fla. The Lakeland City Commission voted 4-3 Monday to pass a 12-month moratorium on new data centers and other high-demand electric customers, adopting Ordinance No. 26-018 at its Aug. 3 meeting. The ordinance took effect immediately upon passage.
Commissioner Guy LaLonde Jr., who confirmed the passing vote directly with The Citrus Tea News, made the motion to adopt the ordinance, seconded by Commissioner Terry Coney. Voting in favor were LaLonde, Coney, Commissioner Chad McLeod and Mayor Sara Roberts McCarley. Voting against the moratorium were Commissioners Stephanie Madden, Mike Musick and Ashley Troutman.
What The Ordinance Does
The ordinance stops the city from accepting, processing or approving development permits, development orders, comprehensive plan amendments or utility service requests tied to data centers or large load customers, defined under a new state law as any customer with an anticipated monthly peak electric demand of 50 megawatts or more. The pause applies both inside Lakeland’s city limits and in unincorporated Polk County areas served by Lakeland’s electric, water or wastewater utilities.
The 50 megawatt threshold, along with the ordinance’s definition of a data center, is drawn from Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, a state law regulating data centers that took effect July 1.
The ordinance adopted Monday is unchanged from the version presented at the July 20 first reading, when commissioners debated possible exemptions and questioned the city’s authority to apply the rule outside its own limits. That debate is covered in our earlier story.
For more information on the July 20 meeting, see our coverage here.
Background
The moratorium follows a monthslong debate over a specific project proposed for Lakeland by developer Ryan Companies, known as Project Swan, and a July 6 and July 20 commission meetings that drew large crowds of public comment mostly in favor of a moratorium or an outright ban.
Exemptions
The ordinance exempts data centers and large load customers already lawfully operating in Lakeland before it took effect, though those uses cannot expand or intensify during the moratorium. It also carves out ordinary server rooms, computer rooms, and similar IT equipment that support a business’s own operations rather than outside, third-party customers.
What’s Next
Over the next 12 months, city staff will study how data centers and large load customers should be regulated going forward, including where they should be allowed, how their utility and infrastructure costs would be covered, and their potential impact on the environment, public safety and city finances.
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Sources: City of Lakeland, Ordinance No. 26-018, agenda item VI-A-1, adopted Aug. 3, 2026, City of Lakeland, Proposed Ordinance No. 26-018, agenda item VI-B-1, July 20, 2026, first reading draft, Reporting from the July 20 and Aug. 3, 2026 Lakeland City Commission meetings, LkldNow, “Data Center Moratorium Draws Crowd and Lakeland Revises Hearing Dates”, WUSF, “Lakeland releases proposed data center moratorium ordinance”.
