Data centers spark debate across Florida over growth, resource use
In Ocala, Marion County (FL), Ocala City Council and local residents debated municipal data center siting, utility infrastructure load, water consumption, and zoning rules during the June 15, 2026 session.
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Data centers spark debate across Florida over growth, resource use
Ocala City Council · June 15, 2026
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3 verified timestamped clips extracted chronologically from the closed caption record. Select any clip to play that exact window in the master player or copy a canonical clip link.
- Clip 1 · 0:21 Ocala City Council Applicant and Economic Development Presentation Developer Representative In support auto captions, uncheckedWater Power & Grid Zoning Tax Abatements
Substantive hearing record before Ocala City Council regarding data center siting, utility capacity, and community impacts.
">> Small scale versions of data centers are all over the place. They're in basically any major corporation. We've got one here at Fox 35 keeping our servers running. That's not the thing making the headlines. What's in the news right now is similar to this, but on a massive scale. Data centers are all over headlines recently. But, do people really know what they are? >> Uh something to do with AI."
- Clip 2 · 1:06 Ocala City Council Official Deliberation Elected Official Questioning auto captions, uncheckedWater Power & Grid Zoning Tax Abatements
Substantive hearing record before Ocala City Council regarding data center siting, utility capacity, and community impacts.
"takes a lot of electricity. Keeping them cool takes a lot of water. They're also loud, and they could be coming to a town near you. There are already over a hundred in the state of Florida, including multiple in Orlando. >> Everyone is impacted by this. >> And because everyone is impacted, every politician is impacted. Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly has come out in favor of a moratorium on"
- Clip 3 · 1:36 Resident public comment Resident Public Comment auto captions, unchecked
Substantive hearing record before Ocala City Council regarding data center siting, utility capacity, and community impacts.
"had a unanimous vote to ban them. Palm Coast is considering new zoning rules that would require council approval before any data center is built. >> Anything that uses massive amounts of water that would equate to, you know, 50,000 or 100,000 homes, you know, how can you approve that without taking a hard look at it? >> Republican candidate for governor Byron Donalds had defended data centers and accepted millions in contributions from"
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