The scene at the Dec. 10 meeting of the Marana Planning Commission was reminiscent of many of the recent public meetings in Tucson: A packed audience listening to an elaborate proposal for a large data center met with a tall stack of speaker cards representing mostly opposition.
Many of the characters were also recognizable: Beale Infrastructure, along with the support of a few construction and business development advocates, pushing the data center on one side. And on the other, concerned residents — including many members of the No Desert Data Center Coalition — vigorously opposed.
The arguments followed the same pattern as well.
Sue Ritz, the first person to speak at the call to the public, worried that the national boom in data center construction was part of the latest tech bubble.
“This is a speculative project,” Ritz said, stating what would be something of a refrain for much of the meeting. The call to the public — for just the single agenda item — included more than two dozen speakers and lasted more than two hours, stretching past 8:30 in the evening.
Beale hopes to develop 600 acres in northern Marana, near Luckett Road and west Hardin Road, into a massive data center in the next ten years. According to a news release from Beale, and repeatedly invoked by its attorneys and representatives at the meeting, the data center is “estimated to generate $407M in state, county and local tax revenue” over the next ten years.
The project, according to the release from Beale, is described as “low water” and will spur about 4,200 construction jobs for the next five to 10 years, offering up to 400 permanent jobs.
But the meeting was technically about one issue: Whether the Marana Planning Commission should recommend that the Marana Town Council rezone two parcels of land to allow the data center to be built.
In 2024, the Town of Marana introduced a new ordinance to regulate future data centers, requiring developers to conduct noise studies, ensure the source of electricity power is sufficient, assess future energy needs, estimate annual water consumption, delineate where it will source the water, and explain how the data center meets all of those requirements.
Keri Silvyn, an attorney representing Beale, emphasized the company’s compliance during a presentation to the commission.
“Our job tonight is to demonstrate we meet the town ordinance,” she said. “We are 100% meeting the ordinance.”
Silvyn stressed the data center would use “air-based cooling technology.” She said Beale heard people in other jurisdictions, including in Pima County, that there wasn’t sufficient water in the desert to cool a data center.
Silvyn said Beale held a virtual neighborhood meeting in November, with 10 people attending. Silvyn said the only question after the presentation was the project’s expected opening date. She said it would be in 2029.
“So many risks and unknowns”
Marana city chambers was standing room only, with overflow spilling into the lobby. People held signs against the data center and sometimes clapped in support of comments.
Sue Ritz, a U.S. Army National Guard veteran, was the first speaker during the call to the public and set the tone for opposition to the data center.
“As an engineer, I have questions,” Ritz said, speaking loudly into the microphone. “If this data center consumes so much megawatts of power, what impact does that have on residential customers? If there’s not enough power, who’s going to lose their power first?”
“Remember PFAS,” Ritz said, referring to chemical pollutants that have infiltrated the Marana water supply. “Nobody knew what they didn’t know, but now the town is on the hook for millions of dollars for cleanup of PFAS,” Ritz said.
Another speaker said he wasn’t inherently against a data center, but wanted binding, enforceable protections against power rate hikes or other utility bill increases.
A security analyst, Jackie McGuire, stressed that the proliferating data center buildout is a bubble that will burst soon.
“Is it worth bringing in a project with so many risks and unknowns?” another speaker asked the commission.
Daniel Trejo, a veteran who said he has two family members buried in the Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery at Marana, said it wouldn’t be fair to those buried there to allow the pollution, noise and traffic he worried the data center would bring.
A number of speakers pointed out that there was no established, or at least named, end user. One speaker threatened recalling the commissioners.
Various speakers also expressed concern about another potential development in Marana, a possible ICE detention center.
Local business leaders, meanwhile, stressed the progress and opportunity a data center could bring to Marana, as well as possible benefits to national security.
Trico Electric would supply electricity to the potential data center. The company is a not-for-profit electric cooperative whose members share in its ownership and infrastructure.
Brian Heithoff, the CEO of Trico Electric said it would require contractual commitments that Beale would pay for possible increased power generation.
“If the cost to build exceeds current generation costs,” Heithoff said, “the data center pays the difference. This protects our community and the financial health of the cooperative.”
Heithoff added the company is projecting that the next rate increase could be delayed, depending on the data centers’ consistent use and payments, by three or four years.
Construction workers stepped up to the microphone as well, expressing support for the project.
A unanimous vote
After the call to the public was closed, Dave Bowen, one of the commissioners, asked Silvyn if it was true, as a number of people had alleged, that Beale had never completed the construction of a data center.
“Beale has a number of projects in a number of stages of development,” Silvyn said but acknowledged the company hasn’t yet completed construction of a data center.
Sharon Tyson, another commissioner, said the public may not like the way commissioners vote, “but we do listen to you.”
After what amounted to a more than three-hour discussion, the commission voted unanimously, 6-0, in favor of recommending the town council rezone the land to allow the development of a data center.
After the vote, many in the crowd stood up, booing and shouting, “Shame!” and “Shame on you!”
After most of the crowd filed out, the commission moved on to the next agenda item.
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