The Pima County Board of Supervisors moved to implement a temporary moratorium on new data centers last night after over an hour of closed-door deliberation and public comment from four individuals supporting the resolution.
The resolution places a short-term ban on permits and advancement of any data center projects in Pima County until a zoning code text can be written. A zoning code text is a document outlining rules and standards for how county land can be used in specific projects.
The moratorium is set to last 120 days.
According to a July memo regarding the zoning code, potential requirements could include closed-loop cooling systems to preserve water, noise reduction measures and design standards. A draft of the new code text is expected by Dec. 15\.
AZPM reported on the decision to draft the moratorium in early August, which passed after a 3-2 vote with Supervisors Rex Scott and Steve Christy voting against.
Last night’s vote was split along the same lines. Scott said his vote was based on legal advice which he could not discuss due to attorney-client privilege.
“I will be opposing this resolution for the same reason that I supported the amendments to it, and that is legal counsel the Board has received from the County Attorney’s office,” he said. “My decision to oppose the resolution is based on my review of that counsel from the County Attorney’s office.”
Board Chair Jennifer Allen said she supported the measure after listing several potential public health impacts cited in the county’s Data Center Public Health Review.
The review was released last month and notes that its purpose is to identify and assess “potential public health concerns across the data center life cycle.”
“Why we are putting a moratorium into place is to ensure that our land use policy, our zoning code, actually ensures that we are making good, informed decisions, that we understand proposals’ impacts on those issues that I just described,” said Allen. “Because those are the things that are life and death for our communities.”
Scott said the Public Health Review did not reference the impacts of any specific project in Pima County.
“The review was clearly not completed to provide justification for this resolution, nor does it provide an evaluation of any specific project,” he said.
The moratorium applies to “future development of new data centers where permits have not been submitted for site improvements.”
Currently, the city is only considering two data center projects: Project Blue, which has already begun construction; and Project Gravel, a proposed 160-acre data center in Sahuarita.
The effect of the moratorium on Project Gravel is unclear, as developers claim the land is already zoned for industrial purposes.
The board also voted to consider extending the ban in the coming months while a new zoning code is drafted and the county collects more data on public health effects.
