Controversial data center project in West Valley near Luke Air Force Base clears regulatory hurdle

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors gave the greenlight to a 160-acre data center and powerplant development in the West Valley despite local concerns about pollution and the project’s proximity to Luke Air Force Base.

Project Baccara is a proposed data center development near Glendale and Surprise that would include its own 700 megawatt gas power plant, according to project documents. The development, which will include multiple buildings between 100,000 and 500,000 square feet, is located on 160 acres of land around one mile north of the air force base.

The supervisors voted 4-1 to issue a military compatibility permit for the project, which is required by state laws that regulate what can be built near the military bases.

That came after Brig. Gen. David Berkland, the commander at Luke Air Force Base, wrote a letter to the board, expressing concerns about the project.

However, county staff said Project Baccara’s developer agreed to conditions Berkland laid out in that letter to make the project “compatible” with the nearby base. That includes complying with air quality standards and conducting proper analysis to ensure the development’s buildings and operations, including emissions from the plant, won’t create a hazard for pilots.

That was enough to convince the board majority to approve the project.

“I told them, If Luke's against it, I'll be against it,” Supervisor Debbie Lesko said. “And so my understanding is they spoke with Luke Air Force Base.”

Only one supervisor, Democrat Steve Gallardo, voted against the project, saying the Air Force never confirmed in writing that its concerns were met.

“Had they come back to say, ‘yeah, we're good now,’?” Gallardo said. "No, they really haven't.”

Local pushback

Local residents expressed concern that Project Baccara poses a real threat to their community and members of the military at the base and could increase the risk for plane crashes.

“As the residents know best, there have been incidents of planes landing and equipment being dropped out of the sky. This project would put not only our residents but our pilots at Luke Air Force Base in danger,” said Lexsiri Coronado with the Project Baccara Opposition Coalition.

The proposed development is located on vacant land bordered by agriculture and industrial facilities in an unincorporated part of Maricopa County, though the city of Glendale recently voted to begin the process to annex the property.

Neighbors said the development will negatively impact their lives by importing a massive gas plant capable of delivering enough energy to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

“In truth, Surprise gets nothing from it except all the lasting effects of the toxins it will spew, the inescapable noise it will emit, and the loss of precious water table,” said Kimberly Dunbar, who lives near the site.

But both the supervisors and the project’s development team pointed out that the future data center site has long been zoned for industrial uses, which includes both data centers and power plants.

“I think it’s important for the public to understand that it's already zoned heavy industrial, and that because Luke Air Force Base is there, that's why we're going through this, to see if it's compatible with the military base,” Lesko said.

That didn’t appease Hollie Tolmachoff, a mother of six whose home neighbors the site, who said the area has changed a lot since county officials zoned it for those uses.

“Since then, thousands of homes, dozens of schools, major retail centers, churches and community spaces have been built around the site,” she said. “Expecting existing residents to simply accept this project because the land was historically zoned industrial, or because we could potentially face an even worse use in the future, is not reasonable public policy.”

Other critics also told supervisors the project will use too much water as Arizona deals with an ongoing drought and the potential loss of a significant portion of its Colorado River allocation — a common criticism levied at new data center projects throughout the state.

But attorney Ed Bull, representing Michigan-based developer Takanock, said the project will use less water than allowable under the water rights attached to the land that will house the development.

And, ultimately, the supervisors said those water issues went beyond the purview of the board, which was only deciding whether Project Baccara could co-exist safely with Luke Air Force Base.

And most of the supervisors agreed that the developer met that burden by agreeing to Berkland’s requests.

The vote was one of the last major administrative hurdles for the project, though it still must receive approval from county and federal air quality regulators.

Philip McNeely, director of the Maricopa County Air Quality Department, said the county is preparing a report for review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“But we anticipate EPA approving the permit, because they've met all of the applicable regulations,” he said.

Development is expected to begin in 2027, according to project documents.