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FLORENCE, AZ (AZFamily) —The Pinal County Board of Supervisors voted against rezoning land for a proposed data center project south of Eloy.
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The board heard from the public for several hours before the vote. So many people turned out that the county set up five overflow rooms across three separate buildings.
Neighbors raise concerns
Glenda Abercrombie and Christine Wyman live in the Red Rock subdivision, about five miles from the proposed site.
“We’re not very happy about this being in our backyard,” Abercrombie said.
Wyman said the community was not informed about the project in advance.
“They didn’t inform our HOA. Our community didn’t know about it until several meetings had passed,” Wyman said.
Neighbors raised concerns about water, air quality, noise, impact on wildlife and property values.
Developer scaled back plan
Vermaland, the developer behind the project, tried in recent months to address those concerns by scaling back the plan from 59 buildings to 11. Each building would have been about 400,000 square feet. The company also wanted to build two gas-fired power plants to meet the project’s electricity needs.
Eirini Pajak spoke out against the project.
“It’s gonna set a really bad precedent,” Pajak said.
Support from unions, fire chief
Union members representing workers who would have helped build the project also turned out to express support.
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“That’s a lot of work for our members,” a union member said.
Avra Valley Fire District Fire Chief Brian Delfs also spoke in support of the project.
“It would provide better response times, more firefighters, more equipment that the firefighters need and potentially a new station on the La Osa development built by them,” Delfs said.
Board votes against rezoning
The board voted 4-1 against rezoning the land, essentially killing the project.
“It means my house is going to be safe, that my lungs are going to be safe, that my neighbors are going to be safe,” Wyman said.
Attorneys representing the developer declined to comment on the vote but said the company has other projects in Arizona it will move forward with.
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