"Sentinel Grove Technology Park," a sprawling 15-million square foot, multi building AI Data Center considered for construction at Orange Avenue (Highway 68) and Minute Maid Road in Fort Pierce, Florida. The sheer scale of this project, which is consider the largest in the world on size and energy consumption alone (with an estimated consumption of 1 gigawatt of power - enough to power a large city), poses a substantial threat to the citizens, our way of life, and the environment of St. Lucie County. The St. Lucie County Planning and Zoning Board board members have already voted against recommending the project.

AI and their supportive data centers are the new pandemic of this country. While these projects are incredibly destructive to the environment (that’s already so fragile from the ongoing development and water issues of the Indian River Lagoon), to support this data center is also destructive to the cost of living in St. Lucie County, future of local employment (and causative job displacement, skill loss, and wage gap from AI), and early childhood development.

Key points from below resources: 

1. From Pew Research, “Utilities often must make expensive upgrades to power grids so they can handle increased energy demands from new data centers. Smaller businesses and U.S. households often shoulder these costs unless ratepayer protections are put in place.” St. Lucie County residents are already paying the highest property taxes in the state and increasing the electric bill to support this data center isn’t sustainable to families. The estimated consumption of energy is 1 gigawatt, or the equivalent of enough power for a large city. Saying "NO" to Sentinel Grove Technology Park is saying that you care about the cost of living for citizens of St. Lucie County and you won't stand for a large corporation to jeopardize the well-being of your fellow citizens. 

2. From MIT, “In a 2021 research paper, scientists from Google and the University of California at Berkeley estimated the training process alone consumed 1,287 megawatt hours of electricity (enough to power about 120 average U.S. homes for a year), generating about 552 tons of carbon dioxide. (…) Chilled water is used to cool a data center by absorbing heat from computing equipment. It has been estimated that, for each kilowatt hour of energy a data center consumes, it would need two liters of water for cooling, says Bashir.” The Indian River Lagoon and our waterways are already struggling and it's estimated that the center will use 5 million gallons of water per day. The State of Florida has pledged $100 million dollars for it's revitalization. This project goes directly against the initiatives of protecting this lagoon and it's surrounding water ways. Saying "NO" to to Sentinel Grove Technology Park is saying that you stand for the long term sustainability and conservation of our natural resources like the Indian River Lagoon. 

3. From Institute of Child Success, “However, it is clear that there is great potential for AI to negatively impact young children. Key concerns include privacy and data security, digital dependency and social interaction, bias and accessibility gaps, and content quality and ethical issues.” The dependence on AI will have larger impacts in the long term development of children in St. Lucie County. While the AI data center does not directly impact the use of AI with children, the support of these projects continues the rhetoric that unrestricted use of AI is okay. Saying "NO" to Sentinel Grove Technology Park is saying you want the best for the children of St. Lucie County and their development.

There’s too many unanswered questions in this AI  era and our concern as St. Lucie County citizens is that allowing these data centers is the acceptance of the downfall of these fragile systems. 

The citizens of your districts urge Saint Lucie County Commissioners to carefully consider these impacts and deny this (and future AI data center) project from coming to fruition here in St. Lucie County. We are counting on you to be the voice of the people and environment. 

We call on local residents, environmentalists, activists, and concerned citizens to stand together against this development. By signing this petition, you are voicing your support to protect our community and environment from the irreversible damage that Sentinel Grove Technology Park will cause. Please join us in demanding that the Commission not allow its construction!


Please sign and share with your friends and family! And if you'd like to voice your support in more ways than signing this petition, please email the St. Lucie County commissioners with your support against the AI data center: 

Cathy.Townsend@stlucieco.gov
James.Clasby@stlucieco.gov
Larry.Leet@stlucieco.gov
Erin.Lowry@stlucieco.gov
Jamie.Fowler@stlucieco.gov


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Resources: 

Impact to Households: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/10/24/what-we-know-about-energy-use-at-us-data-centers-amid-the-ai-boom/

Environmental impacts: https://news.mit.edu/2025/explained-generative-ai-environmental-impact-0117

Early childhood development: https://www.instituteforchildsuccess.org/ai-early-childhood-education/

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Local News Coverage: 

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/st-lucie-county/2025/10/23/13-billion-data-center-largest-in-florida-planned-on-treasure-coast/86770609007/

https://www.wptv.com/news/treasure-coast/region-st-lucie-county/proposed-15-million-square-feet-ai-data-center-in-st-lucie-county-faces-push-back

https://mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2025/03/25/one-hundred-million-in-funding-for-indian-river-lagoon