DCIP Group’s plan to build a large data center campus near Arcadia, Florida, faces a major setback after DeSoto County commissioners failed to approve two rezoning applications covering hundreds of acres for the proposed development.
The DeSoto County Board of County Commissioners reached 2-2 deadlocks on October 27 and October 28, 2026, on separate applications involving the 3F Ranch and Swisher properties. Both proposals sought to expand a project that already has approval for a 34.22-acre site on NE Roan Road.
Together, the original site and the two proposed expansion areas form a campus concept spanning roughly 825 acres. The failed votes leave the larger development unable to advance under the applications as submitted, although they do not permanently rule out a revised proposal.
Two rezoning applications fail to secure approval
The first setback came on October 27, when commissioners failed to approve a rezoning request involving the 3F Ranch property. A second deadlock followed the next day on the larger Swisher property, where DCIP had proposed another phase of the campus.
The Swisher application covered approximately 554 acres and originally called for nine data center buildings totaling about 2.1 million square feet. The plan also included a roughly 24-acre electrical generation facility.
The application sought to change the property’s agricultural zoning to a Planned Unit Development, a designation that would allow the county to review the proposed campus under a project-specific development framework.
The county’s Planning Commission had recommended denying the Swisher application in a 4-1 vote earlier in October. Concerns raised during the review included noise, water demand, wastewater, environmental impacts and whether the development fit the county’s long-term land-use plans.
The 3F Ranch proposal also faced opposition. Residents questioned the scale of the planned development and its potential effects on surrounding properties and local infrastructure.
DCIP revises its plan after residents raise concerns
During the October 27 meeting, DCIP Group CEO Jon Brown told commissioners that the company had listened to concerns about the proposed development and made changes to its Swisher plan.
The revisions removed the planned electrical generation facility from the Swisher property, reduced the proposed building footprint and increased the distance between nearby homes and noise-generating equipment.
Under the revised approach described during the county proceedings, setbacks for that equipment would increase from as much as 500 feet to as much as 1,000 feet from nearby residences.
Those changes did not secure enough votes to advance the application. The 2-2 result left the rezoning request without approval.
Removing the generation facility from Swisher also leaves an important question about how the wider campus would obtain power. DCIP has described a behind-the-meter natural-gas generation approach for the original site, but the public project details do not establish the final generating capacity, equipment configuration or how the power strategy would serve the larger campus if future expansions move forward.
The distinction matters because data centers require substantial, continuous electricity supplies. The county’s land-use decisions and the project’s eventual power infrastructure are related, but they involve separate questions: whether the land can be developed for the proposed use and whether the necessary electricity facilities can be built and operated.
Water, wastewater and noise remain central questions
The rezoning debate has extended beyond building size and property boundaries. Residents have raised concerns about how a campus of this scale would affect local water resources, wastewater infrastructure, traffic and the surrounding environment.
Water demand will depend partly on the cooling technology selected for the data centers and how the operator manages heat. Without final equipment specifications and operating assumptions, the project’s ultimate water requirements cannot be established from the building area alone.
Wastewater handling is another issue that requires project-specific detail. The county review has included questions about the proposed development’s wastewater arrangements, while residents have sought greater clarity on the long-term effects of a large campus.
Noise is particularly important because the project would place industrial-scale electrical and cooling equipment near existing homes. Backup generators, cooling systems and other mechanical equipment can create different noise patterns, making operating conditions and enforceable sound limits significant parts of any future approval.
The county’s review has also raised questions about whether the applications provide enough operational detail to assess the project fully. Changes to building footprints and equipment setbacks may address some concerns, but they do not, by themselves, resolve questions about utility demand, emissions, wastewater capacity or the effects of long-term operations.
The original site remains a separate approval
The larger campus proposal builds on an earlier approval for a 34.22-acre property at 3800 NE Roan Road, a former power-plant site. DeSoto County approved that initial project in March 2026.
The original application described a data center and office building totaling approximately 35,134 square feet, alongside an electrical generation facility. The approved site provides a starting point for DCIP’s plans, but its approval does not automatically authorize the much larger campus proposed on neighboring properties.
The distinction is important: the October votes concerned the expansion applications, not a countywide prohibition on data centers and not an automatic revocation of the original site’s approval.
The larger proposals also proceeded through the county’s ordinary application review despite a one-year moratorium on data centers, according to reporting on the proceedings. Their applications had been filed separately and were reviewed under the county’s existing process.
What happens next?
The Swisher and 3F Ranch applications cannot proceed under the current requests without further action. DCIP could consider revised applications or other next steps, but the county’s October votes do not establish whether or when the company will return with new plans.
Any future proposal will need to address both the land-use issues that prevented approval and the practical questions surrounding power supply, water, wastewater, noise and environmental effects.
For DeSoto County, the dispute highlights a wider challenge facing communities approached by large data center developers: how to evaluate projects that promise substantial private investment while demanding significant land and utility infrastructure. The next stage will depend on what DCIP proposes and whether the county receives enough specific information to evaluate the development’s effects.
The debate in DeSoto County reflects a broader challenge facing the data center industry: securing enough electricity and the infrastructure to deliver it. Utilities are responding to rising demand with major transmission investments, including American Electric Power’s planned $37 billion expansion across seven states, with Jacobs selected to support program delivery. The Florida proposal, however, faces a different immediate hurdle: securing county approval for the land needed to expand the campus.
Project factsheet: Proposed DCIP Group data center campus in DeSoto County
- Location: Near Arcadia, DeSoto County, Florida
- Developer: DCIP Group
- Original approved site: 34.22 acres at 3800 NE Roan Road
- Original site’s approval: March 2026
- Proposed expansion properties: 3F Ranch and Swisher
- Overall campus concept: Approximately 825 acres, based on the area described in reporting on the proposals
- Swisher application: Approximately 554 acres
- Original Swisher proposal: Nine data center buildings totaling about 2.1 million square feet, plus a planned electrical generation facility
- Power approach: Behind-the-meter natural-gas generation has been described for the original site; final capacity and configuration for a larger campus remain unclear
- Latest development: County commissioners deadlocked 2-2 on the 3F Ranch and Swisher rezoning applications on October 27 and 28, 2026
- Current status: The two expansion applications did not receive approval; the original site’s approval is separate
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