Why Broward County scores Moderate
Score elevated from Low (44) to Moderate (50) after Pembroke Park’s April 2026 data center ordinance signaled that local officials believe a proposal is imminent. Broward’s dense urban footprint limits greenfield development, but industrial corridors remain attractive.
FPL service territory. Grid capacity constrained by dense residential and commercial demand across South Florida.
South Florida Water Management District — saltwater intrusion, Biscayne Aquifer pressure, shared supply with Miami-Dade and Palm Beach.
Heavily urbanized. Limited large parcels. Industrial corridors along Hallandale Beach Blvd and Pembroke Rd are the primary target areas.
Existing Cogent Communications facility in Pembroke Park. Town proactively passed $1M/MW impact fee ordinance in April 2026 — indicating officials anticipate incoming proposals.
The facts, as filed.
Pembroke Park writes the rules first.
The ordinance was drafted in February 2026 after the Town Commission authorized its planner to build a local regulatory framework in anticipation of Florida SB 484. It went before the Planning & Zoning Board on April 28, 2026. No specific data center project is named in the ordinance — this is Pembroke Park getting ahead of developers, not reacting to one.
Zoning restriction: Data centers are prohibited as a permitted use in M-1 Industrial zones. Any data center proposal now requires a special exception approval — meaning a public hearing, community input, and a commission vote. This is a higher bar than most Florida municipalities, where industrial zoning often allows data centers by right (as happened in Miami-Dade with Iron Mountain).
$1,000,000 per megawatt electrical/community impact fee. For context: the Iron Mountain MIA-1 facility in Miami-Dade is rated at 16 MW — under this ordinance, that project would owe $16 million in impact fees before breaking ground. The Fort Meade campus in Polk County would require 1,200 MW — or $1.2 billion in fees.
$500,000 per acre water capacity mitigation fee. Paid upfront. This addresses the water consumption concerns that have driven opposition in Palm Beach, Okeechobee, and Polk counties.
$10,000,000 minimum performance bond. Ensures the developer can cover remediation, removal, or community harm if the project fails, stalls, or violates its operating conditions.
$100,000 per megawatt annual backup generation fee. Paid every year the facility operates. This targets the diesel backup generators that are a primary source of air quality concerns near data centers.
Why Pembroke Park acted: The industrial corridor along Hallandale Beach Boulevard and Pembroke Road sits in a densely populated area surrounded by residential neighborhoods. Unlike the rural sites targeted in Polk, Okeechobee, or Citrus counties, any data center in Pembroke Park would be immediately adjacent to homes, schools, and commercial areas. The town already hosts a Cogent Communications data center at 3924 Pembroke Road, and industrial zoning speculation has increased since the statewide data center boom began.
How we got here.
For Broward County and beyond.
A template for other towns
Pembroke Park’s approach — regulating before a proposal arrives — stands in sharp contrast to what happened in Fort Meade (where residents learned of the project after zoning was already approved), Okeechobee (where a state grant was awarded before public input), and Miami-Dade (where a data center was built under a zoning classification that required no public hearing at all). If the ordinance survives legal challenge, other Florida municipalities may adopt similar frameworks.
Legal vulnerability
Whether the $1M/MW fee schedule survives challenge is an open question. A developer could argue the impact fee is prohibitively high and constitutes a de facto ban on data centers. Florida courts have generally upheld impact fees when they are reasonably related to the costs a development imposes on a community — but $1 million per megawatt is unprecedented, and no Florida court has tested a fee at this scale for a data center.
The SB 484 layer
SB 484 preserves local zoning authority, meaning Pembroke Park’s ordinance can coexist with the state law. A data center in Pembroke Park would face both the state-level requirements (ratepayer protection, water permitting, NDA restrictions) and the town-level fees and zoning restrictions. This double layer makes Pembroke Park one of the most expensive and procedurally difficult places to build a data center in Florida.
Reporting we relied on.
- Town of Pembroke Park — Planning & Zoning Board agenda, Ordinance 2026-XXX draft text
- Broward County Property Appraiser — parcel records for M-1 industrial zoned properties
- Florida Senate — SB 484 bill text and legislative history
- Datacenters.com — existing Cogent Communications facility listing
Pembroke Park wrote the rules. Is your town ready?
We research your commissioners, write a personalized opposition letter citing state statutes and project data, and email it to every commissioner on your behalf. 60 seconds.
Get Your Broward County Take Action60 seconds · Letter sent within 24 hours
Stop Data Centers
Connect with residents across the country who are fighting data center development in their communities. Share updates, strategies, and stay informed.
Join the Stop Data Centers groupPublic group · Free to join
More on what data centers mean for Florida residents
- Water usage & aquifer impact
- Well water contamination
- Your FPL / Duke / electric bill
- Industrial noise & decibels
- Property value impact
- Health risks & air quality
- Is one near my home?
- HOA & deed restrictions
- Selling a home near a data center
- How to find a proposal
- County commission hearings
- Writing a public comment letter
- How communities stop data centers
- Data centers coming to Florida
- What is a hyperscale data center?