By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
The Tucson Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a study session May 6 to review the current iteration of the City’s proposed amendment to its Unified Development Code establishing parameters for data center developments.
Multiple reports have shown Arizona as the state with the second most data centers in development around the country, second only to Northern Virginia, which is home to a large number of federal government installations.
As the sector has exploded, multiple counties and municipalities around Arizona have begun implementing zoning and land use restrictions, largely generated by resident and activist concerns about environmental impacts and power and water resource use. AZBEX has covered this trend extensively, and many of our articles are available here.
We originally reported on Tucson’s plan to undertake restrictions late last year. (AZBEX; Sept. 17, 2025)
Actions taken so far include the amendment’s initiation by City Council last year after rejecting a proposed annexation and development agreement approval for Beale Infrastructure’s Project Blue data center, which has since proceeded under Pinal County jurisdiction, a September 2025 study session by the Planning Commission and an April 7 study session by the Tucson Mayor and Council. (AZBEX; Aug. 8, 2025)
AZBEX was also the first outlet to report on the development that would become Project Blue and has continued to cover the project’s progress. Those articles can be found here.
According to the staff memo in advance of the upcoming study session, “The proposed code amendment would establish a definition of large-scale data centers and establish use-specific standards. The proposed code amendment has been developed with input from a Technical Advisory Committee, four community engagement meetings and community survey, and Mayor and Council feedback.”
The TAC has held four meetings to date to discuss input and summarize comments. According to the memo, “…concerns primarily focused on water availability, energy use, noise, air quality, equity considerations, and broader issues related to technology and artificial intelligence.”
Amendment Details
In the April 7 study session, the Mayor and Council expressed support for the revisions made during the feedback and revision process.
“However,” the memo says, “it was also acknowledged that technology is changing rapidly and conditions for development may be more favorable sometime in the future. Furthermore, Arizona State Statute limits the City’s ability to place a moratorium on large-scale data centers for longer than 120 days without justifying the prohibition or risking legal action from potential developers.
That session generated several notes for revisions to the first draft of the amendment language, including:
- Adding an energy consumption threshold as part of the definition of a large-scale data center,
- Expanding public notice requirements,
- Restricting large-scale data centers to planned area development or planned community development areas and
- Requesting that staff continue reviewing what actions other jurisdictions have undertaken for large-scale data center regulation.
As currently noted in the fact sheet and draft ordinance presented for this week’s study session, the amended ordinance defines large-scale data centers as, “A facility, multiple facilities, or portion of a facility on a contiguous site with the same controlling ownership interest, and a gross floor area greater than 25KSF or uses greater than 50 megawatts of energy, housing networked computer systems and/or telecommunications equipment used for remote storage, processing, and distribution of data.”
This is significantly smaller than the size the technology industry generally considers large-scale or hyperscale, which starts at 100KSF and can cover as much as 10MSF.
The public review process would feature six opportunities for input, consisting of a pre-application meeting with staff, neighborhood meetings, the application submittal, a public hearing before the Zoning Examiner, the Zoning Examiner recommendation and the final Mayor and Council decision.
The notification radius would also be expanded to include all property owners within one-half mile and all neighborhood associations within two miles of a planned site.
Developers would be required to demonstrate access to appropriate electrical power resources at the time of the application, disclose their planned power mix (including renewable sources) and disclose their expected power consumption.
They would also have to operate under the City’s One Water guidelines, demonstrate adequate water supply access and, for users expecting to use more than 10,000 centum cubic feet (roughly 7.48 million gallons), submit both a Sustainable Water Service Application and a Water Conservation Plan for Mayor & Council approval.
The draft ordinance also includes enhanced setbacks, noise mitigation and generator use restrictions, and mandates compliance with the environmental components of Tucson’s General Plan and environmental policies.
Staff has recommended approval of the proposed ordinance. The Planning Commission is scheduled to vote on the ordinance in a June 3 hearing.