OKEECHOBEE — Okeechobee County Commissioners are set to review proposed amendments to the Okeechobee County Comprehensive Plan at their April 23 meeting.
A comprehensive plan is a guiding policy document that establishes long-term goals and strategies for land use, growth, and community development across a county.
The county is proposing to change the future land use designation for much of the southern part of the county, introducing a new classification to be called a Structured Growth Overlay. All land in the Structured Growth Overlay that was classified as Agriculture will be classified as Rural Estate.
The county believes these new proposed amendments to the comprehensive plan will allow higher residential densities and increased employment opportunities for the community. The proposed plan also calls for a Special Technology Opportunity Center option to allow for and encourage development of some types of technology-oriented businesses, such as data centers.
The Okee-One data center being planned for the old Boys’ School property has received a large amount of pushback in recent months, with many calling for the data center project to be canceled. A petition against Okee-One has garnered almost 3,000 signatures. Now, the Special Technology Opportunity Center portion of the proposed comprehensive plan has already drawn feedback from those worried it intends to allow and encourage technology-focused development, including data centers and related infrastructure.
The Special Technology Opportunity Center tucked within the Structured Growth Overlay is designed, in the plan's own words, "to facilitate economic development opportunities and broaden the County's tax base." It would allow properties with close proximity to high-voltage electric infrastructure to develop as technology-oriented facilities, including information technology and data infrastructure, communication and data center facilities.
The proposed changes to the comprehensive plan were first seen at the Jan. 27 public meeting of the Okeechobee County Planning Board. Although the meeting occurred a month before the current pushback against the Okee-One data center, members of the Planning Board had questions of their own about the changes related to data centers.
“Is this fully in line with our access to water, as far as cooling for data centers,” asked Winston Ward during the Planning Board Meeting. “I’m concerned with future water use and water availability. The more cement you pour, the more you’re messing stuff up.”
The Planning Board ultimately approved sending the proposed comprehensive plan to county Commissioners, with chairman Joey Hoover adding that the scope of the plan was almost too big for the Planning Board to fully take in during one meeting.
“I've always found it personally quite nonproductive to bring this to the board,” said Hoover during the meeting. “It's one thing to bring in some small comp plan to change. But when you look at these overall comp plan changes or suggestions for changes, this is way beyond your purview or your abilities to comprehend or to question all this stuff.”
Okeechobee County Commissioners will review the new proposed amendments to the Okeechobee County Comprehensive Plan at their April 23 meeting, starting at 9 a.m.
