Protecting Citrus County from Harmful Rezoning

The Future of the Nature Coast Hangs in the Balance 

To the Editor, 

The defining battle for the future of Citrus County will take place on June 18th at the  Planning and Development Commission meeting. While our County Commissioners wisely passed a 12-month moratorium on new data center applications to protect our community,  a dangerous legal loophole remains: the Deltona Corporation’s massive request to rezone over 800 additional acres near the Holder Industrial Park was submitted before the freeze.  Because of this timeline, it must legally be heard—and it must be denied. 

Deltona is asking for a blanket "Heavy Industrial" designation. If approved, a hyperscale AI data center could be built "by right," stripping local citizens of future public hearings and leaving us entirely at the mercy of Big Tech. 

We are told that Governor DeSantis’s new state law, SB 484, provides guardrails by forcing developers to pay for their own grid upgrades. But state laws cannot protect the unique character of the Nature Coast. An AI data center is not just a standard warehouse; it is an environmental parasite. It requires millions of gallons of water daily to cool server banks,  threatening our fragile springs, rivers, and the Floridan Aquifer at a time when water restrictions are already a reality. Furthermore, these facilities require an immense, continuous draw on power that will inevitably demand new fossil-fuel infrastructure right in our backyards. 

The proposed Holder site sits within a few miles of three local schools, serving nearly 1,800 children. Instead of rural peace, our neighborhoods will be subjected to a 24/7 low-frequency electromagnetic hum and massive light pollution—all for a project that creates very few long-term local jobs once construction ends. To make matters worse, Deltona’s own paperwork previously cited a useful operational lifespan of just 10 years, leaving Citrus  County with zero legal assurances for who cleans up the electronic wasteland when the technology becomes obsolete. 

The Planning and Development Commission must look past the empty promises of tax revenue and protect our homes, our schools, and our water. We urge the board to recommend a total denial of the Deltona rezoning on June 18th. Let’s use the county's 12-month moratorium to pass strict, unbreakable local ordinances that ensure hyperscale data centers never destroy the Nature Coast.

John Comer

State Committeeman

Citrus County Democrats