In February 2025, construction began on a 150,000-square-foot data center in Westview, a community in northeast Miami-Dade County. Many of the people who live there had no idea it was happening.

Under Miami-Dade County's current zoning rules, data centers are classified as "telecommunications hubs" and are permitted in industrial zones without any public hearing or approval process. Notification was sent only to properties within 500 feet of the site, which in this case meant only industrial neighbors, not the homeowners and apartment residents who live nearby. By the time community members started asking questions, construction was already underway.

This is not an isolated case. More than 1,500 data centers are in various stages of development across the United States right now. In South Florida alone, two are under construction in Miami-Dade County, and a proposed million-square-foot facility in Palm Beach County has drawn fierce opposition from neighbors who say they have "everything to lose and nothing to gain." The only reason those neighbors found out was that their project required rezoning, which triggered a public hearing. Residents in Westview had no such opportunity.

Data centers are not large warehouses. They require enormous amounts of electricity and water to operate. One proposed facility in Central Florida would use an estimated 50,000 gallons of water per day. Residents near data centers report persistent noise from industrial cooling systems that run around the clock. And experts warn the current pace of expansion is not sustainable. "It requires way too much power and way too many resources," said Nick Tsinoremas, a computer science professor at the University of Miami.

Making matters worse, Florida lawmakers recently passed a bill allowing data center plans to be kept secret from the public. Communities cannot protect their quality of life if they are not allowed to know what is being built next door.

Florida's governor has signed legislation allowing municipalities to block data center developments. That is a step in the right direction. But local governments cannot use that authority if developers can build in secret and residents are never told what is coming.

We are calling on Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties to require genuine public notice and comment periods for all data center projects regardless of zoning status, to create a distinct zoning category for data centers that triggers full environmental and infrastructure review, and to reform Florida's data center secrecy law so every affected community has the information it needs to make its voice heard.

The internet needs data centers. But neighborhoods need a say in what gets built next door. Sign this petition to demand transparency, accountability, and community rights before the next data center breaks ground in South Florida.