SAHUARITA, Ariz. (KGUN) — Sahuarita residents packed a town hall meeting to speak out against data centers, even as Shane Dille, the town manager, confirmed no application from a developer has been received.
"I wanted to just again clarify for the council and the listening public, that at this time we do not have any plans submitted to the town, formally to our staff, for any kind of development referenced to the site of concern — whether that's a data center or any other heavy industrial user," Dille said.
He said any information circulating online is speculation at this point in time.
Despite that, many in the audience shared their concerns. One resident said she does not want the community to get blindsided.
"I think as a citizen, now we're looking at whose business are our politicians showing allegiance to? Is it the people or is it corporations?" she said.
Another resident raised concerns about water use.
"A data center uses tremendous amounts of water. We are in a drought zone for decades. This is the worst possible place to even consider putting a data center." he said.
Dille said staff in the community development department are actively working on an industrial zoning code amendment that will include specific regulations for data centers — something the town learned from the Town of Marana and the City of Tucson.
"All of that obviously is going to feed in and influence what we end up doing, learning from other organizations as they've battled through the types of issues," Dille said.
Residents who want to stay up to date on these types of projects can visit the town's website and sign up for email updates.
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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Vanessa Gongora is KGUN 9's Westside reporter.. Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist. Share your story ideas and important issues with Vanessa by emailing vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
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