Let the voters decide? Nassau County to explore public referendum on data centers

YULEE - Whether Nassau County voters should decide if data centers can be built in the county will be the focus of a public workshop planned for January, following a proposal Monday by Commissioner John Martin to explore putting the controversial issue on the ballot.

Martin introduced the referendum proposal after more than 250 residents packed the County Commission meeting room and spilled into outside corridors. More than 30 citizens addressed commissioners during the three-hour workshop, most opposing data centers and many calling for voters to decide the issue.

Martin said he had already asked County Attorney Denise May whether the county could hold a referendum.

He said his follow-up question was whether the results of such a vote would survive a legal challenge.

Commissioners agreed to have May research the referendum option and return with a legal analysis at another public workshop, tentatively expected in January. No date has been set.

Martin compared the possibility of a referendum to the recent public vote rejecting paid parking in Fernandina Beach, although he acknowledged that restricting data centers would involve more complicated property rights issues.

But he said the question deserved an answer.

The law allows qualifying property owners to seek compensation when government regulations inordinately burden certain existing property rights or vested uses of their land.

"You're a non-chartered county. So you're only granted the powers that the legislature has given you," May said. "That said, can you take things to ballot? Yes, you can. What are the limits on that? I think it's worth exploring."

"That's a new question, and I think it deserves the legal research that you would expect," she said.

"I'm asking Ms. May to research the legal ramifications and likelihood of if this went to referendum and the people said, 'We don't want them,' what would our odds be in litigation?" Martin said.

"A legal challenge to under Bert Harris is the same, whether you vote the regulations down and you vote to ban on your own," she said. "The same legal risk exists if you put it to vote and it ends up in the same result."

May also warned commissioners that Nassau County cannot extend its existing moratorium on data center development indefinitely while debating whether to adopt regulations or pursue a referendum.

"If you draft no regulations and a ban two years from now, you've got another problem on your hands," May said.

Ken Smith urged that county voters should decide the matter during public comment.

Commissioner Klynt Farmer supported investigating a referendum and expressed growing opposition to data centers.

"The more I look at it, the more I sit and try to digest it, I just don't like it, to be honest with you," Farmer said. "I want to make sure that we get it right over the course of the election cycle. From what I could tell, don't quote me on this, but it looked like there were 44 different places that I saw throughout the U.S. where in some form, data centers came up in 44 different places. "All 44 failed. And so I also heard where they said most people that were polled would rather live next to a prison or a nuclear power plant than a data center."

Farmer urged additional research before the county makes a final decision.

The discussion followed months of county review of potential data center regulations addressing water consumption, electricity demand, emergency response, environmental protections and economic development.

Pope said substantial staff resources had already been devoted to researching the issue and preparing proposed restrictions.

He outlined several options, ranging from continuing the existing regulatory process to abandoning proposed regulations and pursuing an outright ban, despite legal warnings about the risks.

He also said the proposals would make data centers ineligible for local economic development grants or property tax incentives, although community benefit agreements could still be negotiated.

Martin said the referendum idea emerged from the repeated requests of residents who wanted a direct vote including many voicing that stance during the meeting.

Commission Chair Alyson McCullough confirmed that commissioners wanted May to research the referendum question and that another workshop would be scheduled.

Commissioners discussed holding the workshop early next year, possibly by the end of January.