Plans for a in Okeechobee County, about 60 miles west of West Palm Beach, was scrapped last week by its county commission, with funding also pulled by the state.
The recent decision reflects growing opposition to data center proposals in South Florida, mirroring grassroots efforts by vocal critics in Palm Beach County who are advocating to end their unrelated 鈥�Project Tango鈥� in the western part of the county.
Opposition is also happening nationwide as tech companies and developers looking to plunge billions of dollars into ever-bigger data centers to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing are increasingly losing fights in communities where people don鈥檛 want to live next to them, or even near them.
Communities across the United States are reading about 鈥� and learning from 鈥� each other鈥檚 battles against data center proposals that are fast multiplying in number and size to meet steep demand as developers branch out in search of faster connections to power sources.
Before the proposal was shut down in Okeechobee County, a opposing the 9鈥�10 megawatts "Okee-One鈥� data center project 鈥� led by Indian River State College (IRSC) 鈥� gathered more than 3,000 signatures, more than tripling its initial goal.
Organizer and long-time Okeechobee County resident Wyatt Deihl, who has a master's degree in public health and social and behavioral science from Yale, told SA国际传谋 the response signaled 鈥渨idespread concern鈥� among residents across social media.
A planned protest over a lack of transparency, as well as fears about rising water and electricity costs, was canceled following the county鈥檚 decision.
In the Republican-leaning county of about , more people signed the petition than actually voted for the county administrators, Deihl said.
Residents who expressed their outage at the commission were applauded in the chamber.
One local resident, Shelly Glazer, a retired civil servant who has lived in the community for about four years, called the controversy a 鈥減ivotal moment鈥� to 鈥減reserve the character鈥� of the county.
鈥淟et's not be hypocrites and stand here and pass proclamations about water management and then invite these creatures in,鈥� she argued.
Distrust and Nvidia
The project鈥檚 scale and growth potential, highlighted during an IRSC presentation in February, fueled opposition.
References to Nvidia, the global leader in AI chips production, became a smoking gun among residents who felt it was a bait-and-switch 鈥� initial plans suggested 鈥渨orkforce training鈥� but residents saw it as a secondary goal to building a large-scale AI hub.
Although the land is owned by the state college, the Okeechobee County County commission has regulatory oversight for property zoning.
The years-long Okee-One proposal was effectively shut down after county commissioners voted to remove the 鈥淪pecial Technology Opportunity Centers鈥� designation from their comprehensive economic growth plan.
This amendment eliminated the pathway that would have allowed the development to proceed on the site of the former Florida School for Boys in Okeechobee, an infamous state-run reform school long associated with systemic abuse of children.
Perceived secrecy surrounding project planning increased community anger. IRSC had attempted to use a legal 鈥渆ducational鈥� loophole to bypass public approval to build the industrial data center.
State involvement
And the opposition wasn鈥檛 just local.
A year ago, the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis initially gave from his after the college pitched its 鈥渄ata center campus.鈥� It was to include workforce training. But after fierce public backlash against the scope of the project, the state reversed course and withdrew its support.
The Florida Department of Commerce accused the college of deceiving state officials, creating 鈥渇alsehoods and pretenses about energy and water,鈥� FDC department spokesperson Emily Hetherington the Tampa Bay Times.
During the April 23 commission meeting, officials also said IRSC is expected to return nearly half of the state grant following the withdrawal of support.
The DeSantis administration did not respond to SA国际传谋鈥檚 request for comment.
鈥淲hen this was first proposed, there wasn't a lot of knowledge about what data centers actually meant,鈥� Deihl told SA国际传谋. 鈥淎nd public sentiment towards data centers has shifted drastically as we've seen large scale data centers pop up across the country and being proposed in communities like Okeechobee.鈥�
Similar concerns have surfaced in Palm Beach County, where residents in Wellington and Loxahatchee have pushed back against 鈥�Project Tango,鈥� another proposed data center they say lacks sufficient public input.
A zoning hearing for that project, originally scheduled for April 23, was postponed 鈥� at the applicant鈥檚 request 鈥� until July 15 .
