# Model Instruments for Data Center Development in Florida Counties **Release 2026.4** · In-Kind Standard · DOI: `10.5281/zenodo.24021154` Companion record (plain-language guide, open legal questions and methodology, CC BY 4.0): `10.5281/zenodo.24021153` Earlier releases of this record: Release 2026.3, `10.5281/zenodo.23482760`; and, published as the Automation Resilience and Community Benefit Framework, Release 2026.2, `10.5281/zenodo.22969907`, and Release 2026.1, `10.5281/zenodo.22216019`. --- ## What this is Model ordinances, agreements and forms a Florida county can adapt before, or when, a large-scale data center application arrives, so that the County works from documents it wrote. In-Kind Standard is the name of the citizen-prepared project that writes them. Each instrument is written in the usual form for its kind and is published twice: an annotated copy, which opens with a heading block and keeps the drafting notes, and a clean copy without them. `000_START_HERE.md` says which instrument fits which decision, and `Drafters_Notes_v1_20.md` lists every blank that sets a figure or a choice. ## Contents Each instrument below is published as two files: its name followed by `_annotated` and by `_clean`, with the extension shown. | Instrument | What it is | |---|---| | `Model_Data_Center_Standards_Ordinance_v3_14` (.txt) | Adopting ordinance and Exhibit A, Data Center Standards: tiers and applications, siting, screening and lighting, water and cooling, water withdrawal and wells, sound, generators, stormwater, karst and flood, burials and archaeological resources, hazardous systems, equipment stewardship, decommissioning, review, monitoring and enforcement | | `Data_Center_Technical_Manual_v1_11` (.txt) | Exhibit B to the Standards Ordinance: methods, submittals, tests and report formats | | `Module_M1_Review_Procedure_v1_2` (.txt) | Optional conditional use review procedure (Sec. 15A of the Standards) | | `County_Procedure_and_Records_Kit_v1_12` (.txt) | Staff report, Sec. 15A insert, resolution, business impact estimate, hearing calendar, gap check, and a plan policy on data center water sources | | `Model_Data_Center_Public_Safety_Impact_Fee_Ordinance_v0_8` (.md) | Impact fee for fire rescue and hazardous materials facilities and, where the technical study finds need and benefit, emergency medical services and emergency power at County facilities | | `Model_HCDA_v2_20` (.txt) | Host Community Development Agreement under ss. 163.3220 to 163.3243, Florida Statutes, for mitigation of impacts the County's study measures | | `Model_HCDA_Exhibits_and_Forms_v2_12` (.txt) | The agreement's exhibits, and forms of utility cost affidavit, letters of credit, emergency equipment lease, decommissioning security, and commitment status table and completion statement | | `Supplemental_Operating_Covenants_Schedule_v1_9` (.txt) | Exhibit "S": operating covenants beyond the Standards, for the agreement or a County ground lease | | `Module_M2_Emergency_Power_for_County_Facilities_v1_5` (.txt) | Optional: emergency power capability at County facilities | | `Exhibit_B_Outline_and_Methodology_v1_9` (.txt) | Outline and method for the County's own Exhibit "B-1" impact, nexus and proportionality findings | | `Model_Ground_Lease_v1_17` (.txt) | Ground lease of County land for a data center, with the County as landlord | | `Module_M3_Civic_Compute_Allocation_v1_10` (.md) | Optional: computing capacity as part of lease rent (Part 2) or under the private agreement (Part 3) | | `Module_M3_Options_v1_5` (.md) | Optional provisions of Module M3 (a County computing share, an Instruction Share, open hardware obtained through the developer, and first refusal on retired equipment), each inserted at its number when chosen | | `Model_Community_Benefits_Agreement_v0_15` (.md) | Private agreement between the developer and a community organization. The County is not a party | | `CBA_Clause_Bank_v1_8` (.md) | Optional terms for the private agreement, and the terms not yet drafted | Published once: `Drafters_Notes_v1_20.md`, by instrument and section: each blank, what sets it, and the statute that requires the provision. Navigation and license files: `000_START_HERE.md`, `CHANGELOG_v2026.4.md`, `002_MANIFEST.txt`, `LICENSE_RECORD_1_CC0.txt`, `LICENSE_RECORD_2_CCBY.txt`. ## How the pieces fit - **Standards are regulation.** They bind every operator of a facility they cover through the land development code, whether or not it signs anything. They carry no mitigation money. The only payments to the County they require are cost-based review fees, an escrow for independent review and monitoring and, where an applicant asks the County to consider a development agreement, a deposit for the County's cost of preparing the impact findings (Section 4A of the adopting ordinance); they also require decommissioning and well claims security (Sec. 14(b)). - **Mitigation rests on a study.** The County obtains mitigation of a project's measured impacts by an impact fee for the whole use class or, where the applicant chooses, by a development agreement. Each obligation stands on its own nexus and proportionality record. - **County land is different.** As landowner, the Board takes cash rent of not less than fair market rental value, and may take part of the rent as computing capacity under Module M3 on top of it. On airport property under federal grant terms, rent is cash only, as airport revenue. - **Community benefits are private.** Benefits that mitigate nothing sit in a private agreement between the developer and a community organization. The County is not a party and takes no part in it. The organization chooses an annual payment, which is the default, computing capacity, or both. ## Known limitations - No county has commissioned the Exhibit "B-1" impact study or the impact fee study. Every mitigation amount and fee depends on one. - Some terms of the Community Benefits Agreement are not yet drafted. The Clause Bank lists them. - The author's comparison with adopted ordinances and executed agreements, as of October 2026, found no Florida county that has adopted data center performance standards, no executed ground lease of public land for a data center, no data center community benefits agreement of 2025 or 2026 without a government party, and no executed United States data center agreement that dedicates computing capacity to a community, so those features are untested. - Not adopted anywhere. Not reviewed by licensed counsel. ## Status Citizen-prepared work product. Not legal advice. The author is not licensed to practice law and is not affiliated with, and does not write on behalf of, any university, law school, clinic, law firm, or governmental body. No attorney-client relationship arises from this deposit or any use of it. Any jurisdiction considering adoption should obtain review by counsel admitted in that jurisdiction. ## License CC0 1.0 Universal. See `LICENSE_RECORD_1_CC0.txt`. You may adopt, adapt, excerpt and codify this material without attribution and without permission. --- *Prepared by Timothy Smith · Citizen-prepared working draft · Not legal advice.*