The Tucson City Council approved new regulations on large-scale data centers Wednesday, making them one of the most regulated land uses in the city.
The mayor and council also directed city staff to continue looking into potentially banning large-scale data centers altogether, or recommending stricter regulations as community members told the council the proposed regulations didn’t go far enough to stop AI data center companies from extracting Tucson’s limited resources and harming communities in Southern Arizona.
Council members on Wednesday night voted on a development code amendment that establishes large-scale data centers as a new land use, defines what a large-scale data center is and creates specific standards for them. Those standards include minimum distances of half a mile from residential zones and schools, and 1,000 feet from commercial zones; a required noise study and a noise mitigation plan; a requirement to use backup batteries before using generators; and demonstration of access to adequate energy supply and water supply, among other requirements.
Developers will also have to hold neighborhood and public hearings before seeking final approval from city council. With the new regulations approved, data centers are one of the two most regulated land uses in the city along with energy grids, said Koren Manning, director of Planning and Development Services Department.
During a public hearing Wednesday night, speaker after speaker told city council that anything short of a complete ban on data centers is unacceptable. Every time someone demanded a total ban, the crowd erupted in cheers, clapped or snapped their fingers in support of the demand.
A year ago, with immense pressure from Tucson residents, including members of the No Desert Data Center Coalition, Tucson City Council rejected Project Blue by voting against bringing the data center land into city limits. This blocked the developer’s ability to use Tucson Water for the project.
At the time, the city council also directed its staff to update zoning requirements and create local ordinances that would hold large water users accountable. The council is expected to consider changes to its Large Quantity Water Users Ordinance next month. That pressure and community outrage has remained consistent over the last year.
Nick Maya, program manager with the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, said the coalition supports the proposed regulations and encouraged city council to approve the amendment. Maya said coalition representatives served on the Technical Advisory Committee, and were pleased to see several of their recommendations implemented in the regulations. The committee was one of several ways city staff received community input as they drafted the new regulations.
Other speakers offered ideas for how to beef up the regulations, ensuring stricter parameters and better accountability measures if the city is unable to ban large-scale data centers altogether.
But most community members called for a ban. Residents said they are concerned about data centers using up Southern Arizona’s limited water resource.
They said data center developers don’t respect existing rules, citing Project Blue data center contractors transporting water from Tucson Water to the construction site without permission as an example.
The half-mile minimum distance requirement isn’t enough to protect residents from the noise and from heat island effects that research shows happen around data centers, they said.
The proposed regulations lack accountability and enforceability measures, and penalties for developers who break city code, Tucson residents said.
Credit: Stephanie Casanova
Several states consider moratoriums, strengthen accountability
Margo Itule pointed to New York as an example where the state passed a one-year moratorium on hyperscale data centers in order to review and strengthen its regulations. She said 15 other states are considering similar measures. She wondered why Tucson can’t pass a similar measure, or ban data centers altogether.
“The damages caused by data centers, including noise pollution, water and energy guzzling, atmospheric heating, air water pollution, wildlife and habitat destruction, and supportive mass surveillance make it undeniable that the harms far outweigh the benefits,” Itule said. “During our time, this time when our beloved Sonora Desert is suffering a negative drought, when our share of a shrinking river just got cut by 40%, when our electric bills have increased by 14%, we must conclude that data centers absolutely do not belong in the desert.”
Krista Romero, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Arizona, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, offered examples of stricter ordinances in other states. In Texas, the Electric Reliability Council, which manages the state’s electric grid, can cut power to large load users during emergencies, she said. The state also requires users to pay a $100,000 fee for an interconnection study. “Genius,” Romero said.
In Oregon, the Power Act protects households and small businesses from having to pay increased energy costs, by holding “large energy users accountable for paying for their own energy needs,” according to the state legislature’s description of the 2025 bill.
Elena Ortiz told council members she would support “an outright AI data center ban in Tucson.” But looking at the proposal before the council, she had some suggestions on how they could strengthen regulations.
Ortiz would like to see “a section in the noise mitigation recommendations that actually requires ongoing monitoring and reporting to the city” whenever noise exceeds noise code restrictions, she said. And she would like those reports made available to the public.
She would also like the regulations to make it clear that the company has to rely on batteries as its first backup power source, before turning to diesel generators.
“Most of my recommendations are about ongoing accountability, in the case that a permit application is approved, to send a strong message around transparency, monitoring and enforcement, ” Ortiz said.
Vivek Bharathan, an organizer with the No Desert Data Center Coalition, said smaller towns outside city limits like the San Xavier District of the Tohono O’Odham Nation, or like Summit, just southeast of Tucson, could still be impacted by data centers in city limits. These areas where data centers would be permitted according to the new regulations are mostly south of Tucson, where low-income people and Latinos live, he said.
“This continues to be an example of environmental racism,” Bharathan said. “These are the same communities that suffered from TCE poisoning.”
City attorney: Moratorium or ban could pose legal risks
The regulations city council approved Wednesday were the culmination of a year of discussions among several city departments as well as community input through four public meetings and with a Technical Advisory Committee.
“We continue to show up because we know this isn’t enough,” Bharathan said. “Our assignment to you then was clear. We don’t want large scale data centers in Tucson, in the region, anywhere where the people don’t want them.”
The city attorney’s office advised against both a moratorium or a ban on large-scale data centers because of two state laws that pose legal risks. A moratorium is a temporary measure while a ban would be more permanent. The Private Property Rights Protection Act, which the city attorney cited as a potential legal risk to a ban, allows property owners to sue cities if they feel their rights have been violated or their property value has diminished.
Mayor Regina Romero asked whether the Arizona town of Chino Valley was sued after they banned solar and wind farms. In January, state senator Lauren Kuby requested that Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes investigate Chino Valley to see if their moratorium violates state law. City Attorney Roi Lusk said he isn’t sure whether that case was dismissed.
Bharathan told council members the Private Property Rights Protection Act includes an exception for “protection of the public’s health and safety, including rules and regulations relating to fire and building codes, health and sanitation, transportation or traffic control, solid or hazardous waste, and pollution control.” He said there is evidence that can help frame data centers as a public health and safety issue.
Council commits to further strengthening regulations
Ward 6 Council member Miranda Schubert committed to exploring whether a ban is possible, including looking into the health and safety exception to state law. She encouraged residents to reach out to her office if they’d like to be part of that research.
Lane Santa Cruz, vice-mayor and Ward 1 council member, asked City Manager Tim Thomure if the city is equipped to monitor compliance of regulations. Thomure said the city is not equipped to monitor data center developers, but it could become equipped to monitor compliance. He also said the city could consider requiring the data center operator to pay for compliance monitoring.
Ward 3 Council member Kevin Dahl said he felt comfortable approving the proposed regulations because the council ultimately has to approve each data center proposed within city limits.
“We have discretion,” Dahl said. “We said no to Project Blue, unanimously. I can guarantee, if we’re up here, any hyperscale data center that comes to us through this process, and I think they would be crazy to try, we would say no again.”
After the meeting, Ortiz said she appreciates the work the city has put into improving and strengthening its code to have some protections in place against data centers.
“What was most striking to me and most important to me is their stated commitments to continue to find other avenues and other pathways to ban AI data center development in Tucson,” she said.
Bharathan said he is pleased to see that the city will continue to consider banning large-scale data centers. He said the coalition will continue to work with council members to not just hold them accountable but also provide the resources and information they need to strengthen regulations and to make the case for banning hyperscale data centers under the state law’s public health exception.
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