The record, the draft conditions and the sources

The record

What has happened, and what comes next

Date	Step	What happened	Source
Oct. 5, 2020	Planned Development approved	The City Commission approved the Willow Lakes Planned Development, a mixed-use village on this property.	City staff report
Mar.–June 2026	Application materials	A concept plan (Bohler Engineering, March 27), an environmental assessment (EW Consultants, May), and a traffic memo and water and sewer memo (June) were submitted with the rezoning application.	City packet
Aug. 14–20, 2026	Agency review	The St. Lucie Transportation Planning Organization (Aug. 14), County Public Works (Aug. 19) and the City’s technical review (Aug. 20, eleven questions to the applicant) commented on the application.	City packet
Aug. 20–Sept. 20, 2026	Public comment	The City received 85 written submissions, one conditionally supporting the rezoning and 84 opposed. See the questions residents are asking.	Correspondence record
Sept. 17, 2026	Planning Board meeting	The Board asked staff to research how data centers should be classified and regulated, and recommended that the City Commission discuss it. The applicant then asked to table the rezoning to a date uncertain, and the Board agreed. If the application returns, the City gives new public hearing notice.	Agenda · Video
Sept. 29, 2026	Revised draft conditions	The applicant prepared a revised draft of conditional-use standards for large-scale data centers for discussion with the City.	Below
Oct. 5, 2026	City Commission meeting	No data-center item was on the agenda. The Planning Board minutes for September 17 were not yet posted.	AgendaQuick
Next	Staff research and Commission discussion	Staff research on data-center classification and a City Commission discussion. No date is set. The Planning Director said the application’s return depends on that work.	Meeting video
If the application returns	Public hearings	New notice, a Planning Board recommendation and a City Commission decision.	City code Sec. 125-133

Draft and adopted

What is in effect, and what is proposed

The draft conditions

The draft would allow a large-scale data center only as a conditional use in the I‑1 light industrial district and only if it meets every condition below. “Large-scale data center” has the meaning in Fla. Stat. §373.203. The 50-megawatt threshold decides whether that definition applies and is not a separate test.

Topic	The draft condition
Location and electric service	Within 1,000 feet of existing electrical infrastructure able to serve the use, shown by co-location with 500 kV lines or a substation, plus written confirmation from the serving utility, or an agreement with it under §366.043, that the load can be served. A letter from at least one independent fiber provider confirming access.
Sound	Limits on continuous operation at the project property line and at residential and sensitive-use boundaries, in dBA and dBC (one-hour average), with separate day and night limits at residential boundaries. Baseline ambient measurements before operation, periodic testing by a qualified acoustical professional, and confirmation by the City’s acoustical consultant.
Water	Compliance with §373.262 and water-district permits. A long-term cooling-water strategy that does not impair existing public supplies. Routine municipal drinking water for cooling prohibited or limited to a set amount. For an on-site reservoir or reclaimed supply, a plan covering capacity, evaporation, drought, make-up water, discharge, water quality and emergencies, with periodic testing and reporting, including sealed water-balance testing.
Setbacks	Measured from the building wall or equipment pad to the nearest property line of the protected use. Residential: 300 ft for buildings, 400 ft for generators and major mechanical equipment. Schools, child care, hospitals with inpatient care, nursing homes and assisted living: 500 ft for both. Non-industrial commercial: 200 and 300 ft. Setbacks do not apply between parcels inside the same approved campus.
Height and buffers	Buildings no taller than 65 feet, not counting screened rooftop mechanical equipment, lightning protection, communications equipment and utility equipment. A landscape buffer on residential and sensitive-use boundaries designed to be substantially opaque year-round within three growing seasons. Generators, cooling equipment, substations and service yards visible from a public road, home or protected use are screened.
Lighting	Fixtures that minimize spill. Project illumination no higher than 0.5 footcandle at the project property line. A final photometric plan showing fixture locations, mounting heights, color temperature, controls and calculated spillover.
Generators and batteries	Combustion generation limited to emergencies, commissioning, scheduled maintenance and required testing, never routine power, peak shaving or economic dispatch. Routine testing Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., excluding legal holidays, with documented exceptions for law, permits, manufacturer protocol, utility direction or emergencies. No more units tested at once than the approved protocol reasonably needs. Acoustic enclosures, air permits, fuel-storage and spill-prevention compliance, and operating and testing records kept five years. Battery storage is not subject to generator hours and remains subject to fire, building, electrical, hazardous-material and emergency-response requirements.
Approval in stages	Conditional use sets the approved development envelope (maximum building area, height, anticipated electric load, on-site generation, cooling capacity, water demand and equipment areas), the conceptual site plan, principal access, setbacks and conditions. Final site plan adds utility, architectural, landscape, lighting, water, sound, traffic and emergency-response design for each phase. Building permits confirm code compliance. Conditions continue through operation.
Application contents	Development plan with maximums; electric-service evidence; fiber plan; sound study; water and cooling narrative; generation and fuel narrative; landscape and lighting plans; emergency-response narrative for fire, battery and fuel, and hazardous-material leaks; construction-management narrative; decommissioning narrative for fuels, batteries and major equipment.
Fiscal and public benefit	A fiscal-impact analysis may be requested for planning. A public-benefit analysis, with a community-benefit package covering education, job creation, training and community investment.

Engineering and review

The work that sets each requirement

Each study below determines a specific requirement, is reviewed by a named body and comes due at a defined step.

Work	What it determines	Reviewed by	When
Water balance and hydrogeologic review	How much water is withdrawn, evaporated, replaced and returned, and the effect on groundwater, which sets the amounts permitted	South Florida Water Management District; the City	With the water-use permit application, which needs a hearing; the draft requires the cooling plan at conditional use
Sound study	Existing background sound, including I‑95, and modeled campus sound, which settles where limits are set	The City’s acoustical consultant	With the conditional-use application (draft); compliance tests after opening
System-impact study and service agreements	The load, the interconnection and who pays for each part	FPL, under its PSC-approved rate	Before service begins; utility confirmation with the application (draft)
Stormwater plan and environmental resource permit	Drainage design, flood protection and wetland impacts	South Florida Water Management District; the City	Before construction
Updated traffic analysis	Net new trips and any access or intersection improvements	The City, St. Lucie County, the Transportation Planning Organization and FDOT	With the site plan; already requested by the Planning Organization and County Public Works
Fire-district capacity review	Equipment, staffing, water supply, access and training the campus needs	The fire district	With the site plan and building permits; the emergency-response plan comes with the application (draft)
Generator air permit	Emission limits and operating terms	Florida Department of Environmental Protection	Before generators are installed
Fiscal-impact analysis	Net revenue against the cost of public services	The City	May be requested at conditional use (draft)

All approvals that follow rezoning

Take part

How to follow the process and be heard

Sources

Sources and documents

Law, regulators and the City’s own records come first, then independent research, then journalism for context, then utility statements. Letters from the public show what residents are asking, and developer materials show what Willow Lakes proposes and estimates.

Source	What it covers
Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida	The 2026 act that created §163.326, §366.043 and §373.262 and amended §288.075, §373.203 and §373.239. Signed May 7, 2026.
§366.043; §373.262; §163.326; §288.075; §212.08(5)(r); §196.1995	Large-load tariffs, water-use permitting, local authority, record confidentiality and tax treatment.
FPL tariff, Section 8; PSC Order PSC-2026-0022-S-EI; FPL newsroom	Large Load Contract Service terms, PSC approval and FPL’s October 1, 2026 filing.
South Florida Water Management District; environmental resource permits; FDEP, Levee–Midway line	Water-use and environmental permitting, and the 500 kV line from FPL’s Midway Substation.
City of Fort Pierce: Sept. 17 agenda; meeting video; agenda packet, 947 pages	The staff report (pp. 822–838), draft covenant (pp. 840–842), agency comments (pp. 917–925), environmental assessment, concept plan and traffic and water memos.
Loudoun County: tax, land use, noise, energy, water, public safety, workforce, standards, lessons	The county’s own data, finances, land-use history and standards work.
Brookings (Bahar and Wright, updated Aug. 10, 2026); Virginia JLARC; LBNL energy report; LBNL / Brattle price trends	Jobs, wages and home prices; jobs per facility, water, energy and noise; national electricity and water use; drivers of retail prices.
Henrico County; Henrico housing trust; New Albany; Louisa County; Washington Department of Revenue workgroup	Outcomes in other host communities.
Virginia SCC; Georgia PSC; PUCO and AEP Ohio; Utah Division of Water Rights; Loudoun Water	How other regulators handle large-load costs and water reporting. They do not govern Florida.
The Atlantic, June 12, 2026; Kentucky Power; Georgia Power	Context and utility statements, attributed to their authors.

Documents

City record

Planning Board agenda, September 17, 2026 City of Fort Pierce · items 6c and 6d · View

Meeting video with transcript City of Fort Pierce · View

Agenda packet (947 pages, about 300 MB) Staff report · draft covenant · agency comments · applicant materials · View PDF

Applicant materials

Employment brief, October 8, 2026 Developer estimate · permanent and construction jobs and salaries · View PDF

Public correspondence

Every opposition letter, indexed by concern 84 letters, with links · contact details blacked out · Open

Letter of conditional support, August 29, 2026 Port St. Lucie technology educator · View PDF

Figures that differ between documents

Topic	The documents	Used on this site
Acreage	City staff report 200.23 acres; County Property Appraiser 200.3 acres; some earlier materials 203.6 acres.	About 200 acres
Traffic	The 2020 analysis counts 37,828 daily trips for the approved Planned Development; a 2026 memo cites 37,297.	The 2026 figure for the comparison, with the applicant’s estimate of 22,920
Electric service area	The City staff report lists the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority service area; that authority’s own comment says the site is outside its electric and water areas.	FPL owns the transmission lines and the substation at the site; the retail electric provider for the address is to be confirmed