Bay County staff: Board adopted six-month AI data-center moratorium; applicants warned about scam invoices

Bay County planning staff told the Planning Commission on July 21 that the Bay County Board of County Commissioners on July 7 approved a six-month moratorium on AI data centers, revised to apply to facilities operating at 5 megawatts or higher.

"On July 7, the board approved the six month moratorium on AI data centers," Wayne, a county planning staff member, told the commission. He said the board amended the original draft—which had a 50-megawatt threshold—to include facilities at 5 megawatts and up.

Wayne also warned of an internet scam targeting planning applicants. Staff began redacting applicant email addresses from packets posted to the public after applicants reported receiving fraudulent invoices appearing to come from Bay County.

"One of the applicants informed us that they did receive an email with an invoice that appeared to be from Bay County for additional application fees," Wayne said. "For the sake of other applicants please do not make any effort to pay and let us know if you do." He said staff will resume sending targeted email notices to applicants and will evaluate adding warnings directly to application forms and to the county website.

The commission discussed whether to add an explicit notice when staff notifies applicants that their application is considered complete and that no additional payments are required before an item is scheduled. Wayne said the office will continue to redact email addresses from posted packets and reintroduce monthly notices to applicants.

The moratorium and the scam-warning are administrative actions by the board and staff; the planning commission’s role at the meeting was to relay the information to applicants and the public and consider procedural steps to reduce future fraud.