Venice moves toward a 12-month pause on data-center applications, with a final vote Oct. 27

Dated location file photo: Venice City Hall in Venice, Florida, with palms and a clock tower, June 18, 2011. Photo: Ebyabe / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Resized; website wordmark added. Photo source · License

Venice is one vote away from a yearlong pause on data-center development inside city limits. City Council unanimously passed the first reading of the moratorium on Oct. 13, WWSB reported, and the second reading and final vote is set for Oct. 27.

Until that second vote, the moratorium is not in effect. The city's own legislation file for Ordinance No. 2026-32, titled Data Center Moratorium, lists its status as Second Reading.

Ordinance 2026-32 steps

1. Sept. 30, 2026

   Legislation file created

2. Oct. 13, 2026

   First reading passes unanimously

3. Oct. 27, 2026

   Second reading and final vote scheduled

Source: venice.legistar.com; mysuncoast.com

What the ordinance would pause

According to the ordinance title posted by the city, Venice would impose a temporary 12-month moratorium on accepting, reviewing or approving applications for comprehensive plan amendments, rezonings and changes to the land development regulations.

The pause would also reach conditional uses, design alternatives, site and development plans and building permits, as long as they relate to facilities serving "large load" customers, including large-scale data centers, within the City of Venice. It does not, by its title, apply to ordinary development unrelated to those facilities.

The ordinance is meant to buy time. It provides for the city to study and develop land use regulations addressing data center uses during the moratorium.

Why Venice is acting now

Mayor Nick Pachota told WWSB the issue has drawn little public turnout in Venice. "For us in Venice, because it's so unlikely to have something come to us, it's been something where not a lot of people have showed up to speak on it," he said.

Pachota said the city has received emails and he has personally heard from some residents, but he described the topic as far less heated than in North Port, which he said has space for such projects.

WWSB reported that if the ordinance is approved, Venice would join Sarasota and Manatee counties and North Port in pausing data-center talks.

How to follow the final vote

The city created the legislation file on Sept. 30 and placed it on the Oct. 13 council agenda. The file includes the ordinance text and a business impact estimate, which residents can review on the city's Legistar page before the Oct. 27 vote.