Scope
Hernando County Ordinance No. 2026-15 enacts Hernando County Code, Appendix A, Article V, section 11, a temporary moratorium in the unincorporated area of Hernando County on the issuance of development orders or permits for data centers, including comprehensive plan text or future land use map amendments, rezonings, plats or re-plats, conditional use approvals, variances, building permits and other development orders or permits for the initiation, construction, expansion or modification of existing or new data centers; during the period the county will not accept or process applications for preliminary development plans of data centers. Applications received before the effective date continue to be processed, lawfully constructed existing development is not affected, building or construction permits for developments with final development plan approval are not prohibited, and the Board may grant hardship exceptions after a quasi-judicial hearing.
- Geographic scope
- Hernando County, Florida
- Jurisdiction
- Local
- Authority type
- Local government
- Issuing authority
- Hernando County Board of County Commissioners
Dates
- Adopted
- 23 June 2026
- Effective
- Effective status not verified
- Scheduled expiration
- See completion condition
- Ended
- Not recorded as ended
- Completion condition
- The ordinance keeps the moratorium in effect for 365 days following the ordinance's effective date, or until the Board of County Commissioners adopts the data center legislation it directs, whichever is earlier, and allows one extension of up to 120 additional days. No calendar end date is printed and no effective day is stored.
- Source document
- 24 June 2026
- Last checked
- 30 October 2026
Summary
The Hernando County Board of County Commissioners adopted Ordinance No. 2026-15 on 23 June 2026, according to the county clerk's filing with the Florida Department of State, which acknowledged the filing on 24 June 2026. The ordinance imposes a temporary moratorium in unincorporated Hernando County on development orders and permits for data centers, including rezonings, plan amendments, plats, conditional uses, variances and building permits, and on accepting or processing preliminary development plan applications for data centers. The ordinance runs for 365 days from its effective date (taking effect on receipt of the state acknowledgment of filing), or until the Board adopts data center regulations if sooner, with one possible extension of up to 120 days. It does not apply to applications received before its effective date and does not affect lawfully constructed existing development.
What this does not establish
- The ordinance takes effect on receipt of the Secretary of State's acknowledgment of filing. The acknowledgment letter is dated 24 June 2026 and was emailed to the clerk that day, but the ordinance prints no effective day, so none is stored.
- Every page of the filed ordinance carries a county attorney draft header dated 4 June 2026, and the day in the signature block is not legible in the text layer. The 23 June 2026 adoption date comes from the clerk's filing email.
- No end date is stored: the 365-day term runs from the effective day, which is not printed, and the moratorium can end sooner if the Board adopts data center regulations.
- Whether the Board has adopted data center regulations or extended the ordinance's moratorium since June 2026 was not checked.
Unresolved questions
- On what day the ordinance took effect: it takes effect on receipt of the Secretary of State's acknowledgment of filing, and that receipt day is not printed.
- Whether the Board adopts data center regulations, or extends the ordinance's moratorium, before its 365-day term ends.
Relationships
Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. Repeal links identify the repeal instrument and the measure it ends. A later implementation or related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.
- No related action is recorded.
Sources
Primary source: Hernando County Board of County Commissioners page on hernandoclerk.com