Much of southern Okeechobee County is zoned as agricultural land but a proposal to be discussed the county board Thursday could drastically change the rural landscape in this area of grazing cattle and widely scattered housing.
Changing the land use designation from rural could beget higher-density housing as well as data centers.
The county’s land use plan was created in the early 1990s. Since then, the county has grown 30 percent to roughly 40,000 people.
One of the land use designation proposals says "Special Technology Opportunity Centers" will facilitate economic growth and broaden the county’s tax base with close proximity to high voltage electric infrastructure."
Opposition to data-centers has been growing here after earlier this year Indian River State College made a presentation to the Okeechobee Board of County Commissioners about Okee-One, its up-coming data center.
An on-line petition against data centers drew more than 2,000 signatures. A protest again the college's data center is slated for 12:30 p.m. April 27 at the Indian River College Dixon Hendry Campus.
The Okeechobee County government public hearing on changes to the comprehensive plan is at 11a.m. today (April 23).
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