SWFL.io - Local NewsARCADIA, Fla. (WINK) — Plans for an artificial intelligence data center outside Arcadia have sparked debate in a rural corner of Southwest Florida.
"The stuff that I have heard hasn't been positive," said Nathan Headrick, pastor at the Church of God in Arcadia.
Data centers have generated controversy over their high demand for water and electricity. Florida lawmakers recently passed legislation requiring data centers to pay for their own utilities.
But the company behind the project, DeSoto County Industrial Park, LLC, argues that it won't be a problem. The company's chairman is Wilson Trilha, based in Central Florida.
CEO Jon Brown said the data center, located on the site of a former electrical plant, will generate its own power. Reclaimed wastewater and wells will cool the computers inside, Brown said.
"A lot of people imagine data centers and big industrial projects using a lot of evaporative cooling," Brown said. "And that's a wasteful use of water at the scale."
The county told WINK News that it will hold future discussions with the company about how to dispose of used coolant.
County planning documents state that 14% of the site contains wetlands and surface waters. The county said a stormwater management system will likely be required.
The project could generate more than $30 million a year in tax revenue, according to County Commission Elton Langford, who previously worked in the property appraiser's office. The company would hire 25 workers for the first phase of the project, according to Brown. He said the data center could expand in the future.
But first, the project could face opposition from people skeptical that a data center fits DeSoto County's rural character.
"My main concern is the infrastructure," Headrick said. "We already have a lot of issues going right now."
The Florida Department of Transportation is improving State Road 70 as part of a large infrastructure overhaul that has disrupted downtown Arcadia shop owners.
The DeSoto County Planning Commission recommended approval of the project on March 3. County commissioners still have to give final approval at a meeting on March 24.
Brown told WINK News the data center could be operational in 18-24 months.