Pima County planners advance changes to data center rules
Pima County planners voted 8-1 to advance proposed rules regulating where and how data centers can operate, including limits involving water, energy, noise and monitoring. The revised amendments will go to the Pima County Board of Supervisors in December amid public and commissioner concerns about the previously approved Project Blue development.
The Pima County Planning and Zoning Commission voted 8-1 to advance amendments to the county’s data center ordinance after a public survey and two hearings. The proposal would require data centers to use a type 3 conditional-use process in the county’s most restrictive zoning areas and would establish guidelines for water and energy use, monitoring, noise and decommissioning.
Development Services Deputy Director Thomas Drzazgowski said the county is not proposing a ban, while Commissioner Robert Cook argued that data centers should be made nearly impossible to build. Commissioners and residents cited concerns about environmental impacts, water and power consumption, government capacity and the approval of Project Blue, a 290-acre data center project approved the previous December. Development Services must revise the proposal before it goes to the Board of Supervisors in early December.