MARANA, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Marana Town Council voted unanimously on Tuesday night to approve the rezoning of about 600 acres of land to be used for a data center.
Community members packed Marana’s council chambers for the over four-hour meeting, where over 50 people signed up to share their opinion on the proposed project.
The applications were submitted in October by Lazarus and Silvyn, P.C., who are representing the Beale-Infrastructure-owned company, Fremont Peak Properties LLC. Beale Infrastructure is the company developing Project Blue.
The proposed site, totaling about 600 acres, is located near the Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery at Marana and is made up of two plots of land adjacent to one another, each about 300 acres. An application was submitted for each plot of land.
One is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the other is owned by the Kai Family Trust.
Council member Herb Kai’s chair was empty at Tuesday’s meeting, as he is one of the property owners of one of the sites and recused himself.
“He has not participated as a council member in any official capacity and any of the discussions or deliberations into these rezoning applications, said Town Attorney Jane Fairall.
In December 2024, the Marana Town Council approved a data center ordinance outlining specific requirements for data centers in the town, which includes not allowing Marana Water to supply drinking water to data centers for cooling systems and requiring developers to have documentation from the utility provider showing that enough electrical power exists to serve the site. Also included in the ordinance is the need to go through a rezoning process.
During the public hearing, one community member questioned the ordinance. She raised the question, “What guarantees do we have that Beale is not going to exploit the loopholes that myself and many other subject matter experts have passionately explained to you exist in this ordinance?”
But others disagreed. One constituent said, “This follows the ordinance 100%. So say yes to thousands of new jobs in this region.”
According to Beale Infrastructure, this first phase of the project will bring 4,200 construction jobs and 400 permanent jobs to support the data center operations.
Rows of construction workers were at the meeting in support of the project.
“I’d like to get a project here for them so they’re only driving 15, 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes tops,” said Albert Villalpando, who is a member of Local 359. “That would be fantastic.”
While others voiced concerns, including water, electricity and the environment.
“If there’s a water problem, or if there’s an air problem, then I would consider leaving,” said Pat Johnson. “I’m at an age where I couldn’t take diseases from this AI data center.”
According to Beale Infrastructure, an air-cooling system would be used. They also say they are working with Tucson Electric Power and Trico to make sure they pay for all required energy costs and to make sure the project does not increase rates for existing customers. Each project site will need an estimated 550 to 750 megawatts of power at full build-out.
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Madison Thomas joined KGUN 9 in July of 2023 as a multimedia journalist. She graduated from Arizona State University in May of 2023 with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She has lived in Arizona her entire life and grew up in Douglas. Madison is thrilled to share the stories from the community she grew up in. Share your story ideas and important issues with Madison by emailing madison.thomas@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
