DeSoto County, FL Commissioners Approve One-Year Data Center Moratorium, Preserving Carve-Out for 800-Acre Project

DeSoto County, Florida commissioners voted July 29, 2026 to formally approve the one-year data center moratorium the board had directed staff to draft on June 25 (2026-06-25–desoto-county-fl-data-center-moratorium-dcip-carve-out). The final ordinance preserves the carve-out from that earlier vote: it explicitly exempts rezoning applications tied to the roughly 800-acre DCIP hyperscale gas-power data-center campus already in the pipeline, meaning the moratorium blocks only future proposals while the project residents mobilized against continues to advance unimpeded.

The carve-out renders the moratorium largely symbolic for the fight that prompted it. Coverage also connects this vote to Florida’s new state law explicitly opening the state to AI data-center development — utility executives have characterized the law as making Florida “open for business,” while critics argue its practical effect shifts new infrastructure costs onto ratepayers. That ratepayer-cost-shift claim is not yet confirmed against a specific PUC docket or utility tariff and should be treated as a lead, not an established fact, pending that documentary confirmation.

Open leads: identify the specific hyperscaler and rezoning application number behind the 800-acre project; which commissioner(s) advocated for the carve-out and why; locate the PUC docket that would substantiate or refute the ratepayer cost-shift claim under the new state law.