The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has approved changes to the County’s zoning regulations as part of an effort to modernize its land use approach. Included in the major update are data center definitions officials say will help clarify where the project type is allowed.
AZBEX has reported extensively on data center regulation changes in cities and counties around the state. Our coverage is available here.
Under Maricopa County’s updates, data centers will be permitted in either IND-2 (general industrial) and IND-3 (heavy industrial) areas. Land not already zoned for data centers will have to go through rezoning on a case-by-case basis and will be examined for suitability based on surrounding uses, availability of infrastructure and possible operational impacts.
It is not yet known what impacts, if any, a recently signed executive order from President Donald Trump will have on state and local data center zoning and other restrictions. The order says multiple regulatory policies at different levels of government make development more challenging, and it presses for a national framework to ensure technological innovation and protect national security.
The order instructs federal officials to create recommendations for an eventual federal law to supersede state regulations for artificial intelligence and directs the Attorney General to create a task force to identify and challenge state laws that could impede the United States’ emergence as the dominant nation in AI.
In lobbying for the recently rejected AI-focused data center in Chandler from Active Infrastructure, former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema warned local officials a federal preemption could possibly happen if the development were not approved. Despite the warning, Chandler City Council denied the project requests. (Source)