ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV

In a 3-2 vote Tuesday, the board approved amending the area's plan and rezoning for the proposed data center near the Pima County fairgrounds, about a half-mile south of Interstate 10. Supervisors Jen Allen and Andrés Cano voted no.

The board then approved selling the 290-acre site for nearly $21 million, to Humphrey’s Peak Properties, LLC, of San Francisco. The sale originally passed 4-1 with Allen voting no, but was reconsidered later in the meeting so Cano could change his vote. Ultimately, it passed 3-2 with Allen and Cano voting no.

The developer is Beale Infrastructure, a company developing data centers nationally. The operator of the massive complex "will be announced in the future."

The data center complex, known as Project Blue, will be supplied by Tucson Water and Tucson Electric Power.

But representatives from Beale Infrastructure, Tucson Water and Tucson Electric Power would not say how much water or electricity the complex could use, nor would they give estimates when asked during Tuesday's board meeting.

The supervisors' votes came after a public hearing that lasted about 90 minutes, in which the majority of about 40 speakers opposed the land sale.

Final approval of the project will ultimately depend on annexation by the city, a necessary step for water service, Supervisor Steve Christy said.

The developer is committed to replenishing “all consumptive water losses� that the data center generates through its water use. It will pay to create a 30-acre aquifer recharge project in the area and has committed that its water projects will save more water than its industrial processes consume, a memo from Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher has said.

Specifically on water, a fact sheet released last week by Pima County said Project Blue will ultimately use “100% renewable water, primarily reclaimed water, for its industrial purposes.�

The data center complex will also have a long-term power agreement with Tucson Electric Power to “protect existing rate payers, promote overall system reliability, and help create a cleaner energy portfolio,� Lesher wrote. Over time, Project Blue will become one of the utility’s largest customers, the fact sheet says.

According to the county, the first building "could be operational" by 2027. When three phases of construction of the project are finished, it will occupy up to 2.25 million square feet of building space. The complex could eventually expand to as many as 10 buildings.

The complex will have to employ at least 75 employees at an annual salary of $75,000 under the agreement with the county. The data center company says once operational, the complex could employ up to 180 full-time employees at an average annual salary of $64,000.

An estimated 3,024 construction jobs and 2,049 additional “indirect jobs� could be created during Project Blue’s expected construction period of 2026-28, according to Lesher.

Once the complex is complete, the company could generate an annual economic impact of $63.5 million by 2029, or $507 million total over the next 10 years, according to an economic impact analysis.

The purchase agreement includes provisions that allow the county to buy back the land for "nonperformance, and/or enforce monetary penalties on the developer for failing to meet employment requirements," the county said in a news release.

Christy said he was looking at the items up for a vote Tuesday as a business proposition.

"We look at the economic development, that we're taking a $20 million sale, selling it to a private (company), who will then construct a building that will then be put on the tax revenue rolls," Christy said. "The city of Tucson, it's their baby as far as annexing it, but as far as the county is concerned, from a business proposition, it's a good deal. And I want to be on the right side of this opportunity."

Supervisor Rex Scott, the board chair, said he was "enthusiastically" voting in support of Tuesday's items because the "boost it could provide to our local economy may well be transformative."

But he did say the "vast majority" of county residents who have contacted his office "have encouraged me to vote against it." Scott said, however, that from the first time he was briefed on the project, it was "abundantly clear" that those associated with the project had environmental concerns at the top of mind.

"Plans and promises have been made that, if they are fulfilled, could make this project a model for how to balance economic development and environmental protection," Scott said. "We have to do everything that we have planned and promised. ... To do otherwise will not only diminish any economic benefits that this project may bring, it will cause people to lose trust in government. It could also cause harm to this place we love and call home."

Allen said that while there's "clearly a need for data centers" in a growing virtual world, "the fundamental question is where" they should be built, and that's dependent on the resources available.

"I reached out to other elected officials that made this exact same decision ... And the things that we heard, talking with other cities as well as in California, is that some folks have some regrets," she said. "It is a myth that a data center is going to beget other industry, and is going to bring about an economic development boom. What other people told us that are in the Phoenix area  ... is that data centers beget data centers."

Allen also said that, when she spoke with members of the county's zoning commission, some did not know what they were approving in an 8-0 vote to recommend approval. Some of those who approved it, she said, now have concerns.

Cano, the other no vote on the rezoning and plan amendment, cited a lack of information about the project still not being released to the public.

"We are not just building in the desert, we're building on a legacy," Cano said. "Generations of Tucsonans have worked to protect our water, preserve open space and grow responsibly. And we owe it to them to get this right. You don't send a team onto the field without a game plan, and you don't win championships by leaving your fans in the dark."