The City of Tucson held a public meeting at Rincon/University High School to discuss potential changes to its zoning code that would set standards and regulations for land large-scale data centers could use.
The City currently has at least 6 data centers operating in Tucson. While guidance exists for smaller facilities, no formal standards are in place for larger ones.
The proposed zoning amendment came after the mayor and city council asked staff to draft new rules following consideration of Project Blue last summer.
Dan Bursuck, the City's Planning and Development Services planning administrator, said the size of a data center would determine which set of rules applies.
"A smaller would go by existing standards and that would be under 50,000 square feet," Bursuck said. "Anything over 50,000 square feet, according to our proposal would have to go through this new process.”
Bursuck said the City does not currently have plans for a large data center but is developing rules for the future. Now Bursuck said they have to have public meetings and let people living within half a mile of the proposed data center know about it as well as neighborhood associations within two miles.
Under the proposal, any data center company planning to use at least 7.48 million gallons of water per month would have to submit applications to the mayor and council demonstrating sustainable water use and conservation practices. Their plan must also show that at least 30% of their proposed water use will come from reclaimed sources.
Bursuck said water transparency is central to the proposal.
"It takes a lot of water to generate electricity and so, without that information you don't really know what the impact would be," Bursuck said.
Not everyone at the meeting was receptive to the idea of large data centers coming to Tucson. Members of the No Desert Data Center Coalition raised concerns about both the City's capacity to support them and the enforceability of the proposed rules.
Reed Spurling, a member of the coalition, said the City's resources are a limiting factor.
"We don't have the resources to support them here and they don't really benefit us at that scale," Spurling said.
Fellow coalition member Derrick Espadas raised concerns about whether fines would be enough to keep companies in line.
"Once you allow a data center in, they have the money to just pay the checks and to pay the fines and not comply," Espadas said.
Spurling acknowledged the proposal is a step in the right direction but questioned how the rules would be enforced.
"I think it's good that applicants, data center applicants will be required to show that information," Spurling said. “If they’re required to show that they have adequate water supply when the Colorado River is already in an incredible drought and we’re running out of water already, I’m just confused about how any company could show that they have an adequate water supply.”
Companies would also be required to disclose their projected energy consumption and the specific percentage of renewable energy sources they plan to use.
"It's an improvement over no rules for sure. My question is, even if these new rules are put in place, how will they be enforced?" Spurling said.
The City said anyone can file a complaint, which would trigger a site inspection and could result in a violation. Companies that do not correct violations can be fined or suspended.
Later this month, the City said it is giving the public an opportunity to provide feedback. The planning commission still has to do a review at a study session about the proposal and hold a public hearing. The mayor and city council are then expected to weigh in on whether to approve the proposed changes in May.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
