Largo Commission Favors Alternate Data Center Location

The Largo City Commission asked city staff to explore placing the proposed new data center near the Old Largo Feed Store instead of the Largo Public Library.

In November, city leaders approved the creation of construction documents for a new data center in the southwest corner of the library's parking lot. Since that time, a few questions came up, including:

• Does Largo need a data center?
• If the city needs a data center, should it be city-owned or leased?
• If the city builds a data center, where should it be located?

For close to two hours Jan. 15, the Largo City Commission discussed next steps for its data center.

Largo's current data center is on the second-floor of Largo City Hall. The space's floor will not support needed equipment, and the building does not have adequate electrical and air-conditioning services, said Information Technology Director Harold Schomaker.

With constant improvements in technology, the idea of hosting city data files and servers at another location instead of building a data center was explored. The city's IT team mentioned that hosting city equipment off site at another location and cloud computing were options. The city uses 300-350 different computer applications. The conclusion of the discussion was the city needed a data center.

The consensus of the city commission was in favor of owning a building instead of leasing one. The city planned to fund the new data center with Penny for Pinellas funds, which could be used to cover the cost of constructing a building but not paying for a lease. The cost of a lease would need to be covered out of the city's general fund, said Assistant City Manager Henry Schubert.

Lastly, the city commission explored locations for the proposed new data center. Architect Kevin Smith with Fleischman Garcia said the original location proposed by the library in Largo Central Park made sense "simply out of cost."

Residents at a public meeting on the proposed library location for the data center in December expressed concerns about the building blocking their view.

"The issue with the park is its green space. Its designed to be beautiful. The real issue is putting a utilitarian building there," said Mayor Pat Gerard.

The library site would be on existing paving, and an alternate site about 25-foot from the Old Largo Feed Store in Largo Central Park would be in some green space, Schubert said.

The consensus of the commission favored placing the proposed new data center near the old feed store. The location already has some maintenance buildings near it. The city still needs to do an analysis on the potential new building location. 

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