LOXAHATCHEE, FL. — Palm Beach County commissioners are scheduled to vote Wednesday on Project Tango, a proposed hyperscale artificial intelligence data center on Southern Boulevard that county planning staff have recommended for approval and that the county Zoning Commission recommended for denial by a 6-0-0 vote.
Palm Beach County has issued a public notice through its Office of Emergency Management advising that limited seating is expected at the Robert Weisman Governmental Center for the July 14 and July 15, 2026 Board of County Commissioners zoning hearings, both of which begin at 9:30 a.m. The hearings are being held on the sixth floor of the Governmental Center at 301 N. Olive Avenue in West Palm Beach. The county said it is anticipating a high level of public participation.
The 202.67-acre project, filed by PBA Holdings, Inc. and known formally as the Central Park Commerce Center Multiple Use Planned Development, comes before the Board of County Commissioners at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in the sixth-floor Jane M. Thompson Memorial Chambers at 301 N. Olive Avenue in West Palm Beach. The item is on the regular agenda. The application has already been postponed twice from earlier BCC hearings in December 2025 and April 2026.
According to the county staff report, the applicant is asking commissioners to amend the previously approved master plan to add square footage and modify phasing on the 202.67-acre site, and to grant a Type 2 Variance reducing the required parking calculation for the data center use from one space per 250 square feet to one space per 2,000 square feet. Staff recommend approval subject to conditions.
The site sits on the north side of Southern Boulevard, west of the L-8 Canal, in unincorporated Palm Beach County. The staff report places it approximately 3.4 miles west of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road, while the July 15 agenda describes the site as approximately 3.7 miles west.
Under the most recent April 27, 2026 revision, the applicant is proposing 3,594,564 total square feet of development, broken down as:
- 2,346,564 square feet of warehouse use
- 1,032,000 square feet of data information and processing use, described in the staff report as a data center
- 216,000 square feet of minor utility use
That represents a net increase of roughly 1.57 million square feet over the currently approved 2,020,000-square-foot master plan approved by the BCC in January 2025. The applicant reduced the proposed data center square footage from an earlier 1,792,000-square-foot version submitted in November 2025 after residents raised concerns during the December 10, 2025 BCC hearing.
The staff report identifies the site's east property line as approximately 900 feet from the Arden PUD residential community and Saddle View Elementary School, separated by a 400-foot-wide wildlife corridor and the 500-foot-wide South Florida Water Management District L-8 Canal. Access to the development is from Southern Boulevard (SR-80).
At the July 2, 2026 Zoning Commission hearing, 51 public comment cards were submitted, all in opposition to the application, according to the staff report. Three attorneys spoke for 10 minutes each on behalf of clients: Tara Duhy for WPB Logistics Owner, LLC and the Central Park Commerce Center Master Association, Inc.; John R. Eubanks Jr. for the Arden HOA; and Christina Reichert of Earthjustice for the Western Palm Beach Community Alliance.
The staff report said Duhy asked that the application be tabled because her clients — who own property within the MUPD — did not consent to the request. Eubanks raised due process concerns and said the noise study was incomplete, according to the staff report. Reichert argued the proposed use is not the same as a traditional server farm and raised concerns about cooling systems, water use, low-frequency sound and the heat island effect, the staff report said.
Forty additional residents spoke and eight submitted written comments at the July 2 hearing, all in opposition, according to the staff report. Recurring concerns cited in the staff report included low-frequency noise, 24-hour operation, water quality, fire risk from lithium battery systems, homeowner insurance impacts, whether the use qualifies as light industrial and the project's proximity to the Arden community and Saddle View Elementary School.
Six local governments and organizations have submitted formal resolutions or letters in opposition, according to the exhibit list in the staff report:
- Acreage Landowners Association
- Arden Property Owners Association
- City of Westlake
- Fox Trail Property Owners Association
- Town of Loxahatchee Groves
- Palm Beach County Democratic Party
The record also includes letters from State Senator Lori Berman and State Representative Debra Weinberger, and correspondence from Earthjustice and Sustainable PBC.
Palm Beach County School Board Chair Karen M. Brill sent a letter to the BCC dated June 10, 2026 outlining the school district's concerns. The School Board discussed the project at its June 3, 2026 meeting.
The letter placed Saddle View Elementary at approximately 1,200 feet from the proposed data center complex.
"As the governing body responsible for the education and welfare of the students and staff of the School District of Palm Beach County, the School Board has a fundamental responsibility to provide safe learning environments that promote student achievement," Brill wrote. "For this reason, we are concerned about the potential long-term consequences of placing a hyperscale artificial intelligence facility in such close proximity to a public school."
Brill said Board members at the June 3 meeting flagged specific concerns about lithium battery fire hazards and the effect of industrial noise and vibrations on students and staff. The letter requested access to existing public records, impact studies and reports the county has received on the project.
County staff have proposed conditions of approval that would require an 850-foot setback for data center buildings from the east property line, limit buildings within 100 feet of the east property line to a maximum height of 45 feet, cap the maximum daily potable water flow at 100,000 gallons per day, require a battery energy storage system using only Lithium Iron Phosphate chemistry, and set maximum A-weighted noise levels of 60 decibels during daytime hours and 50 decibels between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. at the receiving residential development to the east. External backup generators would be required to be set back at least 800 feet from the east property line.
The staff report notes Palm Beach County Water Utilities has determined the site's 2,000 gallon-per-minute fire protection water requirement exceeds the 1,000 gpm the utility can supply, meaning the site would have to provide its own firefighting water storage, pumping and backup power.
The applicant's justification statement, cited in the staff report, describes the project as necessary to accommodate a "class-leading Hyperscale AI Data Facility" and points to a binding power service agreement the ownership has secured with Florida Power & Light. The justification statement said the FPL agreement "has strict timelines to develop the required substations and AI use needed to accept the power, and to begin utilizing the power."
The staff report also notes Governor Ron DeSantis signed Chapter 2026-65, also known as SB 484, on May 7, 2026, with an effective date of July 1, 2026. According to the staff report, all new data centers are required to comply with the new legislation.
Wednesday's hearing is the final decision point on the applications before the Board of County Commissioners. The BCC agenda lists only the Development Order Amendment for a formal motion; the concurrent Type 2 Variance is addressed in a separate exhibit of conditions.
The item is listed under BCC District 6, held by Mayor Sara Baxter.
Zoning changes, comprehensive plan amendments, and land use decisions can have a major impact on Palm Beach County neighborhoods. Boca Post covers Planning Commission reviews, BCC votes, and major proposals through our Palm Beach County Government page.
