Pima County is joining a growing list of communities scrutinizing data center land usage.
The measure approved Monday by the Pima County Board of Supervisors doesn’t change any zoning yet. But it does direct county staff to look at amending zoning rules for data centers and other large water and electricity users.
Tucson recently rejected a major data center project and updated rules for similar sites regarding water consumption.
Supervisor Jennifer Allen said county and city regulations should mirror each other.
“So that we do not end up with any particular company trying to pursue going to the city or going to the county as a means to circumvent good robust transparency public engagement," Allen said in the Monday meeting.
Phoenix adopted data center zoning code in July. Maricopa County has no known plans to do anything similar, though a county spokesperson says staff and stakeholders are in the process of updating and modernizing the county zoning ordinance, but did not comment on any potential impact on data centers.
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