Phoenix is working on a policy to change zoning laws for data centers. City officials worry about how much land is required for these facilities.
The number of data centers in Arizona has ramped up in recent years. While it is hard to get an exact tally, tracking websites say there are dozens in Phoenix alone.
Citing concerns over land and energy, Phoenix City Council agreed to revisit data center zoning policy late last year.
The council tasked Deputy City Manager Alan Stephenson with creating zoning definitions for data centers and updates to land-use policy in the general plan.
The council members said current zoning definitions for data centers are vague.
Stephenson was also directed to change the process for development agreements.
“At the end of the day that when they're taking up a lot of the land area by these really large land-intensive but not job-intensive uses, you know, it makes the city much less efficient," he said.
Stephenson said the draft policy is set to be finished by early summer.
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Phoenix has a reputation, fair or not, of a boom town where old buildings often get demolished. Hit songs were recorded in midtown decades ago. In the 1960s, that success led to construction of what was once the top studio between Dallas and LA.
