Tucson officials adopted new regulations for large scale data center developments on Wednesday. They come one year after the council rejected Project Blue — a massive data center planned on Pima County land — but stopped short of a desired moratorium.
Throughout an hour of public comments, residents were unanimous in their call for a complete ban on data centers.
Tucson local Margo Itule delivered the following speech to raucous cheers from the crowd, “when our share of a shrinking river just got cut by 40%, when our electric bills have increased by 14%, we must conclude that data centers absolutely do not belong in the desert.”
Vivek Bharathan, a member of the No Desert Data Coalition, said Tucson has been exploring a potential ban due to decades-long environmental justice concerns in the nearby San Xavier District of the Tohono O’odham Nation.
“This continues to be an example of environmental racism. These are the same communities that suffered from TCE poisoning. I don’t need to tell some of you that,” Bharathan said. “So we started looking into the possibility of total bans and came to understand that city attorneys are a little skittish when it comes to bans because of Prop. 207.”
The city says Title 9 of the Arizona Revised Statutes would introduce significant procedural requirements for a local ban. The Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2006 — also known as Prop. 207 — would also likely prohibit this action, because banning data centers would have an impact on property values for those looking to sell their land to interested developers.
Eleven landowners are currently suing the city of Phoenix for $753 million, claiming property value losses from data center restrictions that were passed last summer.
Tucson Ward 6 Councilmember Miranda Schubert introduced an amendment to the city’s new zoning code that makes it clear the council still intends to look for a way to greatly limit or outright ban data center development. The ordinance passed 6-1 with this stipulation included, as well as a requirement to review and revise the rules on an annual basis.
“The community has clearly expressed a desire for a ban. So I believe we, as mayor and council, should not only pass the ordinance tonight, but continue working on strategies to overturn Prop. 207, and also looking for a legal pathway or a loophole,” Schubert said.
Ward 4 Councilmember Nikki Lee abstained, because she says she would have preferred to come back with a new ordinance that incorporates concerns shared at Wednesday’s meeting.
New York became the first state to temporarily ban data center development in June. Several U.S. communities have done the same, but these local actions may or may not hold up in court, depending on state laws.
What’s in the new rules
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero says Project Blue was the impetus for wanting stronger restrictions around large scale data centers.
“As I think about the past year, Project Blue gave us the ability to see a lot of vulnerabilities that existed,” Romero said.
“I just want to highlight very briefly the steps that we did take to work on closing some of those vulnerabilities: bringing forward the large water users ordinance and getting that protection on the books, as well as NDA reform — making sure that anything that is coming up in front of the community has a 90-day sunrise period.”
The city says it held four public meetings and received over 1,000 comments across a year of study on the proposed ordinance. City staff also reviewed data center restrictions that have passed in neighboring communities like Mesa, Phoenix, Chandler and Marana, in order to inform their parameters for development.
Under the new rules, any proposed data center that is larger than 25,000 square feet — which is about the size of a grocery store — or that requires more than 20 megawatts of power will have to meet a series of building design, environmental and public comment requirements in order to receive council approval.
For the design, the data center must be a half-mile away from any nearby residential areas and at least 1,000 feet away from neighboring commercial and office buildings. Screens must be installed around any noisy equipment and independent noise impact studies are due upon application.
Buildings can only occupy 40% of the intended lot. The rest must be reserved for landscaping or parking. The city says this should help mitigate the urban heat island effect.
The developer also must identify and avoid building too close to any native habitats or natural areas.
If the site plans to use more than 7 million gallons of water per month, it must disclose its intended long-term water use plans and draw up conservation measures with the city.
Lastly, the developer must show that there is adequate energy supply for the project and how much is expected to come from renewable sources.
The council added an amendment on Wednesday, which says developers must use batteries or other low-emitting backup power sources before reaching for a high-emitting source, such as a diesel generator.
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