St. Petersburg Confirms Data Centers Are Prohibited Under City Code

Standalone data centers of any size are not allowed anywhere in St. Petersburg under the city's existing land development code, Planning Director Derek Kilborn concluded in an October 9 memo to Mayor Ken Welch, according to the St Pete Catalyst. The determination clarifies current rules rather than creating new ones, and it arrives as cities and counties around Tampa Bay move to restrict data center development.

What Happened

Kilborn's memo examined how the city's zoning code treats data centers in light of a new state law. St. Petersburg's code uses a matrix of permitted land uses, and data centers do not appear in it. Under city rules, uses that are not specifically listed are presumed prohibited. Kilborn considered whether data centers could be treated as similar to an allowed use, such as utility infrastructure, and found no sufficient basis to do so. His conclusion, as quoted by the Catalyst: "Data Centers generally, and Large-Scale Data Centers explicitly, remain prohibited" as either a permitted use or a special exception St Pete Catalyst.

Tampa Bay Business and Wealth, which reported the memo on October 12, added that the code relies on the American Planning Association's land-use classification system and the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to evaluate unlisted uses, and that neither gave Kilborn a clear basis for treating data centers like utility plants or substations. The prohibition also applies to smaller standalone facilities below the state's large-scale threshold. Data centers that are ancillary to an otherwise permitted business are not restricted, and the memo does not propose any zoning changes Tampa Bay Business and Wealth.

The State Law Behind the Review

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 484 in May 2026, and it took effect July 1. The law addresses infrastructure and environmental concerns tied to large utility users such as data centers while preserving local authority over land use St Pete Catalyst. It defines a large-scale data center as a facility with an anticipated monthly peak electrical load of at least 50 megawatts, measured as the highest average load over a 15-minute interval, and prevents large-load customers from being treated as electric substations under a state provision on substation approvals Tampa Bay Business and Wealth.

A Regional Pattern

St. Petersburg's clarification follows more formal actions nearby. In August, the Pinellas Park City Council unanimously approved a one-year moratorium that bars the city from reviewing and approving applications for new or expanded data centers while staff drafts standards covering design, land capability, environmental and water resource impacts, and emergency and public safety effects. Senior planner Todd Biron said at the time that Pasco, Manatee and Lake counties, among others, had adopted data center moratoriums earlier in 2026 St Pete Catalyst.

The Pinellas Park pause affected a pending proposal from American Tower Corporation for a roughly 17,000-square-foot data processing facility at 10700 76th Court North, which would have replaced a light industrial building. An attorney for the company told the council that "the rules have sort of changed in the middle of the game" St Pete Catalyst. In September, Pinellas County commissioners adopted a resolution restricting large standalone data centers in unincorporated areas St Pete Catalyst.

The Catalyst noted that local governments across Pinellas County are weighing regulations over electricity use, water resources and land availability. The article did not say whether St. Petersburg has received any recent data center proposals or whether city officials plan to change the code St Pete Catalyst.

Implications for Owners, Developers, Contractors and Subs

• No path for standalone projects in the city. Developers evaluating St. Petersburg sites for colocation, edge or hyperscale facilities should assume a code amendment would be required before any application could move forward.
• Ancillary server space is still allowed. Because data centers ancillary to permitted businesses are not restricted, on-site server rooms and IT spaces within offices, hospitals, labs and other buildings remain normal scope.
• Local rules now vary sharply. Moratoriums, county resolutions and code interpretations are creating a patchwork across Tampa Bay. Due diligence on any data center site should include current local land use rules, not only power and fiber availability.
• Work shifts elsewhere. For electrical, mechanical and specialty contractors in the region, data center opportunities are more likely to come from jurisdictions that adopt clear standards rather than from Pinellas County's more restrictive communities.

What to Watch

• Whether St. Petersburg leaders choose to formally codify the prohibition or create standards for future consideration.
• The standards Pinellas Park develops during its one-year moratorium.
• Countywide policy work on data centers in Pinellas and similar moratoriums elsewhere in Florida.
• How utilities and local governments apply Senate Bill 484's 50-megawatt large-scale definition.

Bottom Line

St. Petersburg did not pass a new ban. Its planning director simply confirmed that the existing code never allowed standalone data centers. Combined with Pinellas Park's moratorium and new county restrictions, the memo suggests that much of Pinellas County is unlikely to be a near-term market for standalone data center construction, even as demand for these facilities grows elsewhere.

Image credit: Massimo Boturri / Unsplash, via St Pete Catalyst. Image from the source article.

Sources

• St Pete Catalyst, "Data centers prohibited under St. Pete's city code": https://stpetecatalyst.com/data-centers-prohibited-under-st-petes-city-code/
• Tampa Bay Business and Wealth, "Data Centers Are Not Allowed in St. Petersburg, City Confirms": https://tbbwmag.com/2026/10/12/st-petersburg-data-centers/
• St Pete Catalyst, "Pinellas Park imposes moratorium on data center development": https://stpetecatalyst.com/pinellas-park-imposes-moratorium-on-data-center-development/