City of Tucson hosting public meetings on data center regulation

The city of Tucson is hosting a series of public meetings to gather feedback on a proposal to regulate large-scale data centers in the city limits. 

Municipal planners are developing an amendment to Tucson’s Unified Development Code regarding data centers, which emerged as a political flashpoint last year when Pima County officials announced plans to rezone land near the Pima County Fairgrounds to allow construction of one under the moniker Project Blue.

City officials had been working on a plan to annex the property but abandoned it in August after a public outcry over water and energy use.

Following that vote, officials began working on the new regulations. At the public meetings, they will provide information about the proposed rules and hear about concerns.

Learn more about the proposal on the Planning and Development Services website. 

The first public meeting is 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19, at Pueblo High School, 3500 S. 12th Ave. Register to attend here.

Friday, Feb. 13: Tucson Sentinel reporter Paul Ingram joins a panel of journalists to discuss the news of the week on Arizona Public Media’s Press Room. AZPM News Director David Lee
moderates. Program airs at 8:30
a.m. and 8:30 p.m. on NPR affiliate KUAZ-FM, 89.1 FM, 8:30 p.m. on PBS
6, streams on
the AZPM YouTube channel and can heard as a podcast here.

Thursday, Feb. 19: Tucson Sentinel reporter Jim Nintzel joins the Frank Show. 9 a.m. on KLPX, 96.1 FM.

Monday, Feb. 23: City of Tucson public meeting to review proposed data center regulation. 5 to 7 p.m. via Zoom. Register to attend here. 

Friday, Feb. 26: Tucson Sentinel reporter Paul Ingram joins
host Bill Buckmaster to interview Pima Health Department Director Dr. Theresa Cullen. The
Buckmaster Show airs on Fridays at noon on KVOI, 1030
AM. Episodes stream at buckmastershow.com.

Friday, Feb. 27: Last day to request an early ballot for the March 10 RTA Next election. Request an early ballot via the Pima County Recorder’s Office website.

The $2.67 billion RTA Next plan would be funded over 20
years by extending the existing half-cent transportation sales tax
collected countywide if voters approve Propositions 418 and 419.

Prop. 418 is the new transportation plan, while Prop. 419 continues the half-cent-per-dollar sales tax.

Ballots were sent to voters on Wednesday, Feb. 11.

The RTA Next plan includes
$1.58 billion for major road expansion, $177 million for pavement
rehabilitation and $726 million for transit.

Proponents of the RTA
Next plan say it would continue to improve regional
infrastructure, maintain and expand transit services and create jobs
while keeping the sales tax at the current level. A failure to pass it,
they warn, would result in a cut of at least $20 million in annual
dedicated funding for transit and delay road work in a region
that’s already struggling to keep up with traffic needs.

Opponents’
arguments range from complaints that there’s not enough funding for
transit to concerns that the current RTA over-promised and
under-delivered, so voters should reject the proposal.

Voters first approved a 20-year RTA plan in
2006. If the propositions fail next month, the half-penny sales tax will expire at the end of June.

Find more basics about the RTA Next package here and Tucson Sentinel’s coverage of the proposal here.

The election will be conducted entirely by mail but the
Recorder’s Office has opened ballot replacement centers/ballot
drop-off sites at its downtown office, 240 N. Stone Ave.,
its South Side branch, 6550 S. Country Club Road, and the City of
Tucson’s Ward 2 office, 7820 E. Broadway Blvd. Those sites will be open
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Those locations will have expanded Election Day hours 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Ballot drop boxes will be
open 24 hours a day. There are two drop boxes, including a drive-thru
option, at the downtown office, 240 N. Stone Ave., and a third drop box
at the East Side branch of the Recorder’s Office, 6920 E. Broadway Blvd.

The
Recorder’s Office also plans to roll out a mobile voting center for the
election from March 2 to March 9 but a list of locations has not yet
been released to the public.

More details on early voting locations here.

Tuesday, March 3: Pima County election officials urge voters to mail back early ballots by this date because ballots must be in the possession of the Recorder’s Office by 7 p.m. on
March 10 in order to be counted. After March 3, voters should instead
drop their ballot at one of the ballot replacement centers or in a drop
box.

Wednesday, March 4: City of Tucson public meeting to review proposed data center regulation. 5 to 7 p.m. via Zoom. Register to attend here.

Tuesday, March 10: RTA Election Day