By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
Owner Zinke Investments LLC, led by Craig and Chris Zinke, is planning a 1,517-acre data center, energy and industrial campus southeast of Porter and Barnes roads near Standfield.
The owner has requested a major Comprehensive Plan amendment for 956 acres of the site, which would redesignate the land from Moderate Low-Density Residential to Employment. The remainder of the planned Arizona Independent Technology Campus site already carries an Employment designation. Once the redesignation is approved, Zinke will pursue a rezoning to allow for industrial uses.
The request is scheduled to go before the Pinal County Citizens Advisory Committee on Sept. 11.
The property’s current uses are primarily agricultural, and the site includes a single-family residence that is not part of the development area, according to the submitted narrative. The narrative also says, “The site is primarily surrounded by agricultural uses. Immediately north of the Site is industrial development, including the Nissan Technical Center vehicle testing facility. A renewable natural gas facility is located less than one-half mile to the southwest. Beyond these uses, the surrounding area within a five-mile radius is largely undeveloped agricultural land. The closest municipality to the Site is Casa Grande which is located approximately five miles to the east of the site.”
While the final uses for AITC have not yet been finalized, the narrative says the site is generally envisioned for industrial uses, including warehousing and distribution, an industrial park component and data centers that will be supported by energy-related operations.
Under the submitted conceptual land use plan, the northwest and southeast sectors of the site would feature data center and supporting energy uses. An L-shaped section in the northeast would be general industrial, with a square portion immediately south of the industrial area set aside for more data center uses but without the energy component.
The anticipated allocation of space would be 50% data center, 25% energy generation for the data centers and 25% manufacturing/warehousing/general industrial.
A conceptual phasing plan shows the data center and energy component to the northwest would be developed first, followed by the same use to the southeast. The general industrial and data center-exclusive section to the northeast would be the third phase.
A traffic impact statement prepared by Colliers Engineering & Design estimates the total development will generate slightly more than 9,000 trips/day. The estimate also compares traffic if the site were to be developed under its existing low-density residential designation, which would create an estimated 19,500 trips/day.
A full traffic impact analysis will be developed and provided later in the process as part of the site plan approval.
To justify approving the requests, Zinke points out Pinal County and local jurisdiction have approved several other applications to convert agricultural sites to industrial uses in recent years, and Colliers Engineering & Design assembled a map with eight major industrial, energy and data center locations in the immediate project site area.
In touting the potential economic benefits of building out the proposed campus, the narrative points to construction jobs, construction sales taxes and overall long-term employment. While hard numbers are not available because of the project’s currently conceptual nature, the narrative says, “…full buildout of the proposed industrial uses could support approximately 3,000 to 6,500 peak construction jobs and 1,350 to 2,800 permanent jobs. These totals are intended as planning-level estimates only and would vary based on the final development program, phasing, tenant mix, and level of automation.”
Zinke Investments is the owner, with Todd Schneider serving as owner representative. Planning and entitlement are by Colliers Engineering & Design. The project’s legal representative is Bergin, Frakes, Smalley & Oberholtzer, PLLC.
