The city of Phoenix in Arizona is set to clamp down on data centers.
First reported by AZ Central, the City Council has approved a series of changes to better regulate data center growth in the city, including regulating locations and external design specifications.
The council cited concerns over land and power demand, as well as noting the few jobs data centers provide in return.
The vote, which took place on December 10, targeted standalone data centers and will aim to locate future facilities away from the light rail and employment centers.
The council will now work to update the general plan to add guidance for data centers, change rezoning requirements for primary-use and secondary-use data centers, and codify standards for design, location, noise concerns, and performance standards.
Phoenix’s economic development director, Christine Mackay, said: “Our goal is to ensure that our citizens [who] want to work within their neighborhoods can work within their neighborhoods. While [data centers are] great tax investments on the property tax side, their job activity is significantly lower than what we like to see in our employment corridors.”
Mayor Kate Gallego added the use of backup generators at data center facilities poses noise concerns for local residents.
Phoenix is the second Valley city to initiate such regulations, following suit from Chandler at the end of 2022. Chandler’s ordinance means that facilities with primary use as a data center are only permitted in planning area development zones, must provide detailed communications to residents, and must be committed to strict noise control regulations.
Noise pollution has been a recurring issue in Chandler. In 2018, CyrusOne was required to install noise-reducing equipment after locals compared the humming sound to mosquitos buzzing, some stating that the windows would rattle at night and others even threatening to move away from the area as a result.
Arizona has become a hotspot for data centers in recent years, due to its reliable power grid, availability of land, and state-level tax incentive programs. The majority are concentrated in Phoenix, where EdgeCore, Meta, Google, Digital Realty, Centersquare, Flexential, NTT, CyrusOne, Prime, Aligned, Iron Mountain, QTS, EdgeConneX, DataBank, Vantage, Compass, AWS, Lumen, ColoHouse, and Cogent all have a presence. Microsoft also operates a cloud region out of the area.
