>> great. I'd like to call the regularly scheduled january 6,
marana town council meeting to order. Roll call, please? >> mayor post.
>> here. >> vice mayor ziegler. >> present. >> council member kavanagh. >> yes. >> council member comerford.
>> yes. >> council member kay? >> he is excused. >> council member murphy? >> present.
>> council member officer. >> yes. >> a quorum is present. >> thank you very much. Please stand for the pledge of
allegiance followed by a short moment of silence.
thank you. Please be seated.
approval of agenda? >> moved second.
>> motion and a second to approve the agenda, all in favor. >> aye. >> opposed. Motion passes. Call to the public.
at this time, any member of the public is allowed to address the town council on any issue within the jurisdiction of the town council,
except for items scheduled for a public hearing at this meeting.
do we have speaker cards? >> yes, mr. Mayor, we have three speakers for the call the public.
>> tonight, we are going because of the sheer volume of speakers that we have.
we're going to let everybody speak tonight, but we will limit the time for 2 minutes so tonight's time for speakers is 2 minutes,
and we're still going to be here a couple hours so please proceed.
>> the first speaker is david sea, followed by dave hindman and roland baker,
and I did just get a fourth card for the call of public.
>> welcome, sir. >> thank you sir. My name is david sea,
I am a marana resident for over eight years, retired.
chairman, with 27 years of active duty service, and I'm the chairman of the marana veteran cemetery found.
thank you for this opportunity. Our marana veteran cemetery will celebrate it's tenth anniversary in march,
and there are over 5700 interred there today.
it took a community, strong leadership, perseverance, and generosity from others to have it come to fruition.
the kay family was essential to our cemetery's existence as
a graciously donated 42 acres in honoring our veterans.
the family made it clear that when they transferred the title of the land to the arizona department of veterans services,
that land was to only be used for a veterans cemetery.
I want to thank you all for your leadership.
careful planning, with establishing an ordinance to mitigate potential noise intrusions to our cemetery.
help achieve one of paul marsh's agenda items of having
another access road to the cemetery off of panel air park,
and continuing to grow our community while adapting to the future needs of our technologies and way of life.
I know in my heart that every decision you make is with the best intentions,
not only for our veterans, but all of us who reside in this fast growing community.
I am one of your strongest supporters and god bless you for your efforts. Thank you.
>> thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker is dave hindman, followed by ron baker and dennis shannon.
>> mayor post, vice mayor ziegler, council members. My name is dave hindman.
my family and I have been residents of marana for over 15 years now.
I'm currently on the marana chamber of commerce board of directors. I was formally on the marana citizens forum before that was disbanded.
I wanted to thank the council and the town for your leadership.
I live very close to the twin peaks improvements at rattlesnake pass.
that project turned out fantastic. Our neighborhood loves it. I just want to thank the town for having the foresight to think ahead of needs of
the community and to also plan for improvements in infrastructure that benefits my family directly,
whether it's parks, roads, other items, and really focusing on things that will help improve our community and doing so in ways
that don't pass the costs directly onto me as a community member. Thank you.
>> thank you very much. [applause]
>> the next speaker is roland baker, followed by dennis shannon.
>> good evening, council members. Good evening, mayor. Thank you for allowing me to be here yet again.
the reason I'm here today is to beg and plead with
you that we do not open a detention center and we do not open a jail.
neither of those are viable options for that building that mtc had.
we in the pma resist ice, that's our group.
we came up with a position paper, and I would like to read a couple parts of that position paper for you.
I have copies for each and every one of you of the position paper and a couple of other things for
you to peruse at the end of this meeting. What is our moral argument?
why there should not be a detention center? Our religious traditions strongly teach a care for the poor and the vulnerable.
we do not believe that any human being is illegal. We treat each other with dignity and we welcome the stranger.
christmas just happened. Who was that stranger in that stable?
we humbly see ourselves in the presence of the people seeking sanctuary in our midst.
most of us have fore bearers who made such a pursuit. We strongly support legal pathways to citizenship.
such legal pathways urgently need to be reinstated in our national immigration system.
we cannot allow us this town of marana or any part
of arizona to put people in detention centers in prisons.
they are making money off of human beings. That's what this detention center is about, making money off of human beings.
that's what you need to think about. When you understand that there is a detention center that possibly could be opened.
I implore everyone here to please not allow the detention center to be opened.
I ask that you read our position papers and the other papers that I gave to you.
thank you for your time and hopefully you will listen. Thank you.
>> thank you very much. [applause]
>> the last speaker for the call the public is dennis shannon.
>> mayor, council members, dennis shannon, you've heard from me before and you've heard over the last few weeks,
many people in opposition to this proposed is detention center.
lots of different people with lots of different perspectives.
but all very compelling reasons to oppose this detention center.
it doesn't matter if your political views are conservative or progressive.
it doesn't matter if you're on the left or on the right. These are all reasons not to allow this detention center to exist.
we've heard lots of people say why it shouldn't exist.
we just heard rolen say why it shouldn't exist. I'd like to touch very briefly on the
how pma resist is is a coalition of groups that are opposing the detention center.
we've been working with the american civil liberties union and their attorneys to discover,
work through actual tools, legal and administrative tools that can be used to effectively
prevent this detention center from being put into operation.
this is an ongoing research project. It's unfolding, and we would like to share what we've learned
about possible ways of preventing the detention center.
but we have not been able to meet with any of the council members, so we request that when we request to meet with you,
your constituents that you meet with us. Thank you [applause].
>> mayor and council report. Council member kavanagh.
>> thank you. Mayor, I appreciate it. Wife and I were visiting the marana lake over there l rio,
when you mentioned it on your facebook page. I just think it's beautiful. They trimmed out a lot of the all those cotton tail weeds.
they're invasive species, you know? It's really nice over there. It's nice to walk around and see things,
and we actually took a walk up the loop a little bit and saw those beautiful petroglyphs right there on the side of the mountain,
right there, something to behold. You can just locate it. There's pvc pipes sticking up,
get you right in there. It's beautiful. That's all I had, mayor. Thank you.
>> council member comerford.
>> sorry. There we go.
good evening al. I had a couple of things, mayor.
first of all, I wanted to tell you all about a new restaurant in town that my family and I went to.
that el rancho market has a small cantina inside, and it's wonderful.
it's a great little place plus they have so much for sale in there
for their sauces and everything that they make and they do everything by hand.
I just wanted to say, hora for somebody coming in new.
they worked hard to get there. They're on ina road.
I'm trying to think what they're across from. I maybe close to old father. The signal there.
any case, give them a try. You'll like it. That was my first thing, and then I have my notes.
I wanted to talk about something I've never seen in marana,
and it saddens me and all the reports that I've been reading,
I had, and a 80-year-old woman,
write a report about how she felt about what's going on in
marana and wants to attend meetings, but she's fearful.
she's fearful if she gets up and speaks what might happen to her at the end of our meetings,
and that really saddens me that somebody does not feel safe in our town.
we've never had that before. I want to tell any of you I don't care which side you're on. Doesn't matter.
if you don't feel safe or you're scared or whatever the reason is,
you come up here and we'll make sure you have escort to your vehicle so that you are safe,
you're kept safe because that's important to us.
I know we had some we run out of data center ordinance?
anybody get data center ordinances tonight?
they were on the table when you checked in so we wanted to make
sure that you were able to get that. I had made I never go on social media. I hate that thing.
I love going on to read and I read everything and I read what you're
all saying and I read your content and your feelings.
I get it. I think we all get it and you know,
I wanted you to know that this poor woman really got to me, got to my heart.
my post in social media was I want to say not taken in the text that I meant it.
I meant it to be informative and some people said I was offensive and rude,
and that was definitely not my intention. What my intention is I always want people to have information.
I really wanted you to be able to have a copy of that ordinance.
no that it's the end all, but that you see what we did when we started hearing about this stuff and the research
and the work that went into what we want and don't want in marana.
that was the reason why I wanted more ordinances out there.
I would say probably 95% of the complaints I got were about water.
just fully so, our ordinance states that you can't use one drop of marana water.
you'll hear about that throughout the night. I just wanted that.
I wanted you also to know that marana does not have a property tax. I don't know if you knew that.
you'll get your property tax notices, but you won't see one for the town of marana,
and that has to do with our planning.
what we have done to make sure like our old mayor said,
never going to be a property text in marana. I can't dedicate that, but I can say for sure that we haven't and we don't plan on it and we plan well
with our growth and everything going on in marana to help avoid that.
the other thing is speaking of ed, it saddens me.
our mayor passed away a little over a year ago and what saddens me is
the reports of usage of funds donated at election time.
ed ran unopposed. He didn't need $1.
he got it delivered to him a lot and he didn't spend one.
I don't think he spent one dime. Maybe he did, but most of that money went directly to the food bank.
it went directly to the food bank, and talking about a dead man that's not here to defend himself,
I think is cowardly. I'm just going to stipulate that. That's all I'm going to say.
what I'm telling you are the facts, that money went to the food bank because they
were looking to purchase their property there in.
we've been improving that service since the original folks
left it. That was my final thing.
it saddened me to see the mayor talked about that way.
he died doing his job. One of two that I've seen recently,
and I don't want to be number 3. >> thank you, mayor.
>> thank you, patty. [applause] council member officer?
>> no report, mayor. >> council member murphy? >> just real quick. I just want to give a shout out to everyone that lives in the town of
marana for all that you did for all the families during christmas, from donating clothes to food to the hertagna for donating food to our food bank as well.
but anyway, just a shout out to everyone for being so upfront and just making our town what it is today.
thank you guys so much. [applause] >> thank you, council member murphy.
I'm going to give my time over to the vice mayor.
I almost forgot you. I was close. >> I saw that. >> [laughter] good catch. [laughter] vice mayor?
>> no report, mayor. >> mr. Rozema. >> mr. Mayor, vice mayor, members of council,
I'll forego my report tonight in the interested time. I know we have a lot of people who are going to want to speak tonight.
I will just make sure that everyone is aware, in case you feel like sitting down.
if you want to stand, that's fantastic. But over at the pd, across the courtyard over there,
we have an overflow room, pretty comfy, I think, if you're interested in being seated during the meeting tonight.
>> thank you. Moving on to the consent agenda, do I have a motion to approve?
>> motion to approve, mayor. >> second. >> we have a motion and a second. All of those in favor.
>> aye. >> aye. >> opposed? Item passes. A1
>> item a1, public hearing. Ordinance number 2026.001, relating to utilities,
amending the town of marana comprehensive fee schedule by successfully increasing the water-based fee,
water consumption rates, groundwater resource acquisition fee, monthly wastewater service fee,
and wastewater volume charge. For all marana residential and non-residential water and wastewater customers,
effective february 6, 2026, january 1, 2027, january 1,
2028, january 1, 2029, and january 1, 2030.
resolution number 2026-004 relating to utilities,
declaring as a public record filed with the town clerk, the amendments adopted by ordinance number 2026.001.
>> good evening, heidi. >> good evening, mayor. Sorry, this first one colin dret is not here with us today.
I will be the one giving the presentation this evening. This is our rate study public hearing.
here you will see that marana water is here to provide safe and reliable drinking water 24/7 365,
and on here you will see a lot of our stats. As it goes, we have 218 miles of mains.
you'll see sewer mains, fire hydrants, and about 13,000 water customers and just shy of 8,000 water reclamation customers.
just to give a little background on this study that we did.
the last one was conducted in 2019, which we all know is pre-covid,
so a lot has happened during covid. A lot of increases in prices of materials and supplies,
so this rate study will capture all of that.
also, the production are operating as well as our capital costs.
if we take what we are bringing in today in the door and projecting our expenses over the next five years,
that will not cover what those expenses are projected to be. The recommendation is an annual increase of both the water and water reclamation rates.
the town continues, like I had said, initially to be fair and reasonable.
we're here to deliver safe and reliable drinking water that also constitutes taking out the contaminants in our water,
which is a large portion of what the rate increases is supporting,
delivering high quality services for today into the future.
onto our financial forecasting. Basically what we do is the first thing we do,
is take the baseline where we are today with our revenues and then forecast in our operating costs and expenses.
we develop our cashflow, and then lastly look at assessing revenue sufficiencies.
if you know a lot of the brand new houses there,
we have a lot of water saving devices that we're putting into these houses today so a lot of our houses are actually using a lot less water than we have in the past.
we also take into account inflationary pressures. Like I had mentioned covid and the big inflations that took place then,
we take that into account in this situation. We also look at the regulatory requirements that are increasing,
which is the pfas. You'll see what effect those have on our increases.
step 1, like we had talked about, we're doing revenue projections on the existing rates.
we forecast, we look at the water, we have about 780 edus this year,
and we're projecting approximately 480 per year. The reclamation side is 660 edus this year and about 400 moving forward.
our growth is about 1% less than the account growth, my apologies.
we assume we're increasing our conservation, like I mentioned, putting in those water saving devices into our houses.
this is looking at the baseline. This is step 1,
where we are on both sides of the house on the water side as well as the reclamation side.
then this looks at the inflation. Back in 2019, we were roughly about 2% on the inflation side,
and you can see from that date forward to where we are today that big jump that we had in the center,
and we're coming down and we're roughly around that 3% inflation as of march of 2025.
then we take a look at our operating expenses.
at this point we first start with our 2026 budget,
which is our starting point, and then we add in the inflation and incremental adjustments.
we look at all the major assumptions, our payroll, health, any variable costs that we have.
we add that all in, and then we take into the detailed forecast additional positions, meaning staff,
vehicles, any equipment that they need to do their jobs, water quality, and then contracted services.
that would be our outside contractors that we bring in to perform duties for us.
then looking at operating expenses, looking at 13 new positions,
six for water, four for reclamation, one shared, and then a couple of interns.
along with that, we also have to have vehicles and equipment for those folks to do those jobs.
looking at water quality, increase in testing, adding in contracted services.
the water projects that we have, we have our meter replacement program,
which is about 300,000 a year. We have our uv maintenance as well.
the picture on the left, you'll see those are our staff actually changing out the bulbs in the uv,
so maintenance that needs to take place. Layering in our operating expenses on top of that first one.
our capital expenses represent investment over long term assets.
rates are a source of funding for capital projects.
we also have capital expenses for rates funded, that annual pay as you go,
or we have principal and interest.
sorry about that. We also bring in grants, not impact fee projects,
those are separately funded projects that are not included in the rate study.
another project to highlight is our water rehabilitation program.
the town tries to do one well per year. We have funds that are set aside to rehab one well per year as well as one reservoir.
we actually bring folks in to inspect each of the reservoirs looking for any inefficiencies,
and we fix those as we go. Water service line replacement.
this, as you can see, some pictures are of some main breaks. If we have an area that has consistent water breaks,
we'll put that in as one of our next projects as water service line project replacement,
so that we're not continually doing band aids, but we'll do one bigger project.
then the big one is pfas. This is the contaminant that we have that's in our water.
here you'll see that we have four wells that need to have the treatment put on them.
you'll also see that it's split between not only rates, but also impact fees.
you'll see a portion of it will be included in the rates while anything that's
impact fee related would be for future customers.
another project that we do is on the reclamation side as we inspect not only our service lines,
but we also inspect our manholes and lift stations. On the bottom you'll see a cctv camera going through our pipes.
they will be jet cleaned with water, and then we go through and look for any inefficiencies and fix those as well.
that is part of our rates as well. Then this is layered on into the cashflow and revenue side of things.
here you can see the layering of expenses, operating capital, and total on the right side is layering all three of them together.
on the recommendation side there's a gap between where we are today and where we
need to go with all of the projects that need to be completed for maintenance and pfas,
and you'll see this is where we're trying to close that shortfall gap with this rate increase.
the recommendation on the water side is a 10.5% year over year increase and on the reclamation side,
it's a 2.5% increase, is what the recommendation is.
this shows the gap between where we were before,
or I should say today and where we would be in the five years and how we would close that gap.
as far as the bill impacts go, you can see what the typical rates are today,
the 51.80 and 53.43, so 105.23, if you have both water as well as wastewater,
although we do have some customers that may have just water as well as some that might just have
wastewater and might have tucson water or another water provider.
this is the year over year increases that you can expect.
no. Then as far as this goes with the bill comparison,
everybody likes to see how we're compared amongst each other. You can see that we're not the most expensive,
but we're also not the least expensive. We're toward the bottom there.
you'll see that marana's existing is $107 and the proposed being $114,
a bill if you had both marana water and wastewater.
just a few other things to highlight as far as bill assistance goes,
that we do have cdbg grant money that is available for utility assistance.
that's not only for water or wastewater. If you're having trouble with the tep bill, that can help as well.
we did get a high use payment plan that was passed, thank you. That is helpful for our customers.
then a couple other programs that we're looking at is the roundup program as well as budget billing to offer those services to our customers.
where we are today, we are at step 8 with the public hearing and possible adoption.
then if approved today, the next step would be that on february 6,
these rates would go into effect. With that, I will take questions.
>> I neglected to open this public hearing. This is a public hearing. We are in public hearing at this time.
does any of the council have a question for staff?
>> mr. Mayor? >> yes. >> I'd like to mention when we're back to pfas.
that's been very successful for us. Jane, I'm looking at you for a few numbers,
but the town did spend. >> the lawsuits have been successful, right?
>> yes, sir. >> pfas has not been successful at all. [laughter]
>> oh no, I want to be crystal clear, I'm sorry. Thank you, mayor.
we went out with the urging of a lot of our citizens a couple of years ago,
and the two wells that were affected were the airline lambert and the picture rocks.
they did have pfas. We spent, I think about $16 million on each one of
those campuses to clean those two wells.
to this day, they are clean, they've been clean. These folks are getting some of the cleanest water in southern arizona.
I want to thank our attorney,
jane farrell, and everyone who worked on this. We also had some outside attorneys that we
entered into agreements with for 3m and to say, we want reimbursed for some of this.
you know, we've been dealing with that for about two years, three years now,
and we were successful here just recently in getting several million dollars
back towards the money that we've spent so far in mitigating pfas.
I just want to bring up a little bit of a success story. Thank you, mayor.
>> thank you, vice mayor. I was going to ask the same question. I think for a little bit of clarification for the audience,
we have been in a legal battle over pfas
for many years and have done quite well continuing to
fight to get all of the monies back that we are going to
spend on reclamation of cleaning the water for our residents.
heidi mentioned that putting in pfas treatment centers is a huge portion of why we need a rate increase.
heidi, my question to you is as we are successful in these lawsuits,
how can we interject that money and skip a year or two of rate increases,
or do we have to come back and study that? How does that work?
>> good question. >> does somebody want to answer that?
>> mr. Mayor, vice mayor, members of council, with respect to the pfas issue,
there's two main elements. One has to do with the capital component to actually build the plants,
and one has to do with the operations and maintenance of the plants. On both sides we're exploring options and seeking legal remedies associated with each.
it's our hope that we may be successful if we pursue what's called a circle claim,
which is under a superfund site, and there are certain options and avenues that may provide some type
of revenue offset for some of the ongoing maintenance costs, because even once the projects are built and serving the water in the community,
there's a significant operations and maintenance element. Any monies that might be received to offset
the operations and maintenance side would supplement that and we could entertain in type of
either modification or change or bring something back before council, is just would require additional analysis.
but for the purpose of the rate model that's brought before council for consideration,
it assumes and has factored in what the anticipated ongoing maintenance costs are going
to be to keep those plants providing the water. >> thank you very much,
derrick. Do we have any other questions? >> I had a question. >> hold on. Council member comerford and then council member kavanagh.
>> I just wanted to mention the fact that we had an outstanding,
now that we do too now, water director that brought the whole pfas to our attention
long before the epa ever decided that they were going to come out with numbers.
matter of fact, we had our two first sites up and running by the time they came out with their numbers.
I'm proud of our staff and the fact that we try to stay ahead of this stuff,
and I know you're trying to stay ahead with it too. Unfortunately, these things happen.
>> but fortunately we have what people in marana drink and the best water in the country.
I just wanted to add that to it. >> council member kavanagh?
>> yeah, heidi, I had a question on table 26. If you could go to that. Is it 26?
yeah. You have a comparison there. That would be the 2026 bill versus neighboring utilities.
marana propose would be $114 for the average user.
is that for wastewater as well as drinking water? >> that would be a combined bill.
>> now, if you look back at the bill impact sheet, the previous slide,
25, I don't see 114 of the 2025 bill.
I see 105. >> yes, I'm sorry. That is a miss on this slide.
>> okay. >> that should have been updated. >> got it. At a glance, said?
you wonder why is marana water. Is it not even 2026, is it?
>> no. Is off $2 in 2020. >> 2026, the total number is 112,
and this is 114. Go back to what the mayor said,
we could find a way to not impact the marana citizen too much,
maybe cut off a year or something because cost of living in marana's is
significantly higher when it comes to water compared to neighboring cities in the arizona? Just a thought.
>> yes, mayor post vice mayor cavanaugh, I understand, and we really tried really hard to just we put
the bare bones of what we needed on both the maintenance side as well as project side to try and really keep what we could
down and keep the interests of our customers in mind. >> thank you. We have a problem in this area, the pfas contamination.
it's just here. Absolutely, it costs a lot of money to clean it up. Thank you.
>> any other questions from counsel for staff? Do we have anybody from the public that would like to speak on this item tonight?
>> mr. Mayor, I have not gotten any speaker cards for this topic.
>> I do not believe we need anything to happen tonight for this item, correct?
>> mr. Mayor, I believe we do need a vote on this item to adopt the ordinance and resolution.
>> I thought that was in february. That's when it takes place. Do I have a motion?
>> I'll make a motion mayor. I'm going to adopt ordinance 2026 001 amending the town of marana comprehensive fee schedule.
I successfully increasing the water based, water consumption rates, groundwater resource,
and recreation fee, acquisition fee, monthly wastewater service fee,
and the wastewater volume charge for all marana residents. Non residential water and wastewater customers effective february 6,
2026, february 1st, 2027 and january 1st,
2008, january 1st, 2009, and january 1st, 2030,
and to adopt resolution 2026 004,
making the changes a public record.
>> do I have a second to that really long motion? [laughter] well, the motion a second. All those in favor.
>> aye. >> pose. Motion passes.
the town clerk has a giant stack of speaker cards down there,
and she missed one for a call to the public.
we are going to stop what we're doing, and we are going to call that person forward and hear what they have to say.
>> thank you, mr. Mayor. Apologize to bennett burke. Apologize that we mislabeled your card. I apologize.
>> mayor, vice mayor, council and staff.
I'm a marana resident, and tonight I'm here to speak about the moral dimension of a detention center in marana.
this governing body has told us that it can't do anything to stop an ice detention center in marana. Maybe so.
but every good and decent person can use their own voice to speak out like we are doing tonight,
like I am doing right now. On this fifth anniversary of
trump's violent attempt to overthrow a legitimate election to stay in power.
each of us must speak out against the pure evil of this administration,
from its racist and violent persecution of migrants by trump's mass gestapo,
to his blatantly illegal attack on a sovereign nation, to his threats to invade colombia,
cuba, mexico, and greenland. He has effectively declared himself an emperor after his invasion of venezuela saying,
"american dominance in the western hemisphere will never be questioned again."
in addition, his politization of the military was compared yesterday by
army major general paul eaton to joseph stalin's purges of
the top officers and soviet forces and said that we have
"a 1940s stalin problem in the american military right now,
as bad as venezuela's president was, but despite trump's lies,
modoro has never posed a significant threat to the united states."
trump, on the other hand, is doing everything in his power to become the second coming of adolf hitler.
everyone who still supports trump second reich, everyone who remains silent about its crimes,
and everyone who fails to do everything in their power to stop it is complicit in his villainy.
I ask each and every one of you officially and/or personally to stand up for our democracy,
the rule of law, and the constitution of the united states of america before it's too late.
the point of no return is close at hand. Thank you.
[applause] [noise]
>> mr. Mayor mary rome also is here to speak for the call of public. >> that was a mislabeled.
>>yes. I apologize. >>. No, apologies, necessary. I'm just check in to make sure.
>> good evening. Two months ago,
we gave you a tool to consider a proclamation from the town council to
the management and training corporation and to
the department of homeland security to say this community does not want a detention center at the former prison.
you've got copies of this resolution. I'm going to see how much I can read.
the well being of our community is our highest concern, and we have invested in building
an engaging community for our community members in marana.
it is our moral responsibility as a civil society and municipal government to protect the vulnerable.
the religious leaders of the united states, have spoken out against the travesties of justice,
lack of due process, cruel abductions and separations of family
through purported immigration enforcement raids.
detention centers have resulted and will result
in increased activity by ice, border patrol,
in which masked officers pull their guns upon suspected community members,
creating an unacceptable level of fear, preventing people from attending church,
school, jobs, grocery stores. The operation of detention centers across the united states have
resulted in increased use of force against community members.
tear gas, pepper balls, sound barriers, and crowd controls which have violated our first amendment rights.
employees of the former mtc operated prisons were placed in dangerous situations.
>> thank you, ma'am. I appreciate that. >> yes, please get this on the agenda.
let us hear you debate it. Let us hear your considerations.
thank you. [applause]
>> a2. >> item a2, public hearing, ordinance number 2026 0.002, relating to development,
approving a rezoning of approximately 300.5 acres of land located west of interstate ten along
north lockett road and just south of the penal county line, in a portion of section 1 township 11 range 10 e
from r-144 residential to sp specific plan, creating the lockett road north specific plan and
approving a minor amendment to the general plan, amending the land use category from employment to master planned area.
resolution number 2026-005 relating to development,
declaring is a public record filed with the town clerk, locket road north specific plan,
adopted by ordinance number 2026 0.002. >> thank you very much [inaudible].
we are now in public hearing. Mr. Rozema, would you please be so kind as to cover the ground rules of this?
>> mr. Mayor, vice mayor or members of council and to our entire audience,
first of all, welcome to you, and thank you for joining us here for tonight's meeting.
I do want to cover just a few ground rules because I don't know if you're aware of it or not,
but sometimes these things get contentious, and that has certainly occurred in various jurisdictions across your country.
that's not something that's okay. We're going to have dialogue tonight.
we're going to have discussion, and it just needs to be respectful. No biting, scratching, kicking, gouging,
pulling hair, none of that's allowed, especially this guy right down here, man. [laughter] I could tell.
[overlapping] he's a hair puller. I could tell. [laughter] yes.
when somebody is up there speaking, please don't be talking,
no yelling from the crowd. Please make sure that you direct all of your comments to the council.
please don't engage the crowd, no booing, things of that nature.
just want to keep this very respectful dialogue and discussion.
we greatly appreciate that. If it gets to a point where we think we need to step in and stop it, we'll do that.
we'll ask you to calm down if you don't, get these awesome people in these uniforms back there that will
happily escort you to a place where you can yell and scream all you want. Thank you, mr. Mayor.
>> thank you. Mr. Angel. >> good evening, mayor post.
vice mayor ziegler, council, happy new year.
this evening, I have the pleasure to present to you ordinance number
2026-002 and resolution number 2026-005,
which is a rezoning request for lockett road north data center specific plan.
the applicant for this is lazarus and silvan representing the church of latter day saints,
who is the owner of the property. The request is for rezoning from r-144 to
a specific plan for the specific purpose of developing a data center use.
this also requires a minor amendment to the 2040 general plan, which accompanies the application.
the approximate size of this particular site is 300 acres and it is currently zoned r-144.
the general plan has it designated as employment.
there's two maps here on your screen. The one on the left is the general plan.
everything that's shaded in purple there is the employment categories designated by the general plan.
you can see the subject property outlined in that black line there. On the right is the existing zoning designations.
the existing property is r-144, but the current use of that is agricultural.
this is active farmed property. To the east of it is vacant property,
which has an e transportation zone, one of our old alphabet zones on that property,
and also to the east is the existing veteran cemetery. To the south is also r-144 zoning,
but active farmland to the west is agricultural property to the southwest,
and an existing solar field immediately to the west.
then to the north is an existing active mine or quarry operation that is located in penal county.
as I mentioned, this proposal is for a data center campus.
as you are all well aware, we have adopted an ordinance that specifically
requires any data center use to come through a rezoning process.
that is outlined in section 17-6-13 of the marana town code.
just to highlight a couple of those important areas within the code,
we do require a baseline noise study, which has been included in the application.
they also have to provide a letter from the power provider which indicates the intended source of the power and affirming from
that power provider that there is sufficient and existing abilities to serve the site.
assessment of the future energy needs,
or the estimated annual water consumption.
an intended source of water for the development and documentation from
the water provided that says that they have sufficient water to be able to serve the site.
the last thing is as part of the application, if the applicant is not able to meet or is requesting
any waivers or variances from the requirements of the code,
they are required to call that out. That is not the case here. The applicant has provided
all the necessary information and is in compliance with the code requirements.
to touch on a little bit about the site. The power provider for this particular site is trico electric.
the proposal is for 550-750 megawatts,
which is identified by trico. Water provider, marana water will provide office operations only.
the water for that, as you may recall, in our code, we specifically state that maranas
potable water may not be used for any cooling systems within this facility.
actually this facility, I know we've said it a couple of times, but it's proposed as an air cooled facility,
so it's not a water cooled facility. They also have water being provided or proposed to be
provided by cortaro marana irrigation district or cmid.
they would be providing water for irrigation, industrial, and fire suppression purposes.
this is in our marana wastewater service area.
infrastructure. I'm going to take a little bit of time to walk through this one.
as part of this, the proposal would be for an extension of currently,
lockett road dead ends just outside of the entrance to the veterans cemetery. That'll be extended to the north up to where it'll connect to panel air park road.
the exact alignment is yet to be determined, but on this image here,
you can generally see that black dash line that takes it up and connects to panel air park road.
these are very high conceptual estimates right now,
but the estimated cost for that lockett road extension is approximately $20 million.
that will be 100% the cost of the applicant to design and construct that facility.
that will ultimately become a public road, which will be turned over to the town.
it would be our long term maintenance responsibility.
for water. They have an extension of potable water that is estimated to be about 3 miles in length.
the water extension is estimated to be 15-$20 million,
which also includes perhaps some boosters and some oversizing of that facility.
that is once again, 100% of the cost of the developer or
the applicant to carry that cost to design and construct.
now, I do want to say, if they oversize that facility, which means there's additional capacity that could be passed on to
other developments that may be developed years down the road, and they connect into that.
our town code does allow for that facility to be protected by the initial party that installs it,
therefore, they would be eligible for reimbursements of some of that oversizing cost.
it is not a reimbursement from the town. It's a reimbursement from
the other developer that would be utilizing that additional capacity.
>> wastewater, I'm sorry. Wastewater also has an extension of approximately two miles
for a force main and also a proposed lift station that would accompany that.
excuse me. That estimated cost is roughly $15-20 million.
same thing applies here. That is 100% the cost of the applicant or the developer that would have to put that in.
if they choose to oversize that line, it too would also be eligible to be a protective facility,
which they could be reimbursed for that additional capacity as new developments come on.
once again, the town would not be reimbursing any of that cost.
lastly, there is a drainage facility,
a large drainage channel that's identified as part of the northwest drainage study that we did many years ago.
that is that green dash line that starts over on the frontage road near harden road, extends up,
comes all the way through, and then ultimately, continues to the west where it would eventually daylight into the santa cruz river.
as part of this project, well, the overall cost estimate for that channel is $66 million.
as part of the ordinance that's included in your packet,
the applicant would be responsible for full development of a 30% design of the full channel.
that estimated cost is $2 million. We'll have a design of what the whole channel would look like.
those plans will be turned over to the town. As development continues in this area,
and the need for that full channel develops, we would have the plans to ultimately be able to carry that out.
the applicant or the developer of this property would be responsible for constructing
their portion of the channel which falls within the boundaries of this subject property.
that is estimated at $20 million for that drainage construction.
I'm sorry, 15 to $20 million is the range that's provided there.
once again, they would be responsible for the construction and the full design of that.
the remainder of that $66 million would be
either the responsibility of the town at a time and date in which they choose to move forward with the full construction of the channel,
or if other developments were to occur in this area, they would then pick up their fair share of that overall channel development.
all of this is covered and outlined in the conditions of this attached ordinance.
those are conditions 11, 12, 13, 14,
15 and 16, which clearly outlined the timing,
the responsibility, and who is responsible for that.
the next thing is a very conceptual design for the project,
the white cross hatch, the large area in the center there, that is the develop bubble area for the project.
then you have that gray box there, which is the approximate location for a transmission or
a substation to be able to accept power and then ultimately distribute it to the project.
other areas that are identified as buffers and drainage areas that are shown here.
for reference on the east side of this drawing is lockett road.
the plan commission did hold a public hearing on this back on december 10th.
after extensive public hearing, the plan commission voted 6-0 to recommend approval of the rezoning request,
subject to the conditions as outlined in the draft ordinance within your packet.
this is a discretionary item for the council. If the council chooses to approve this item,
staff recommends it be based upon the recommended findings and subject to the conditions as set forth in the ordinance included in the agenda.
one thing I do want to point out, recent conversations that staff has had with the applicant has also led to
an additional condition that has been placed on your dias this evening in a hard copy format.
it's not included in the ordinance that is listed, but what I want to do is just take a moment,
if it's okay, mr. Mayor and read this through it, just because I understand you just received this language this evening.
that additional condition is, "if the data center use in the rezoning area is discontinued,
the property owners must cause all data center hardware and infrastructure
to be removed from the buildings interior in compliance with all local,
state and federal regulations, and must establish and execute security protocols to
ensure the safety and upkeep of the property within the rezoning area,
including protocols in the event of the property becoming vacant."
with that, mr. Mayor, this does conclude my presentation.
I should say, if the council were willing to accept this additional condition,
we would ask that you make proper note of that in a suggested motion to
make sure that it's clearly added to the adopted or the ordinance that's included in your packet.
with that, mr. Mayor, this concludes my presentation,
but keri silvyn with lazarus and silvyn.
I'm struggling with that one. Is here representing the applicant and does have a presentation that she would like to make as well.
>> thank you, jason. Does council have any questions for staff? >> yes, mr. Mayor. Mr. Angel's.
so we've just gotten this on the dias tonight, read through it, a couple of questions.
do we have this clause, and any other of our buildings that we have?
I'll give you an example. How about the one up on, I think it was the old bashes.
they left that, did we have something like this for them that they had to adhere to?
>> mayor post, vice mayor ziegler, are you referring to the additional condition?
>> yes, the list condition that we just looked at. >> to my knowledge, no. We do not have that condition on anybody else.
>> does any of our walmart,
anybody else have this condition that walmart's going to open a new one?
the old walmart, do they have this condition, existing companies have this condition?
>> mayor post, vice mayor ziegler, there are no other businesses that I'm aware of that have
a condition that requires them to comply like this.
we do have, just so full council is aware, our solar facility ordinance and
solar and battery ordinance does have a decommissioning portion that applies for that.
but as far as structures, buildings, businesses, I'm not aware of any that have it.
>> okay. Lastly, this, if I remember,
and I'll ask you, is not in our existing ordinance for daddy centers?
>> that is correct. It is not in there. >> okay. Thank you very much.
>> any other questions for staff? Thank you, jason.
>> thank you. >> ms. Lazarus, would you like to make a presentation? It's your show.
>> mayor, vice mayor, members of the council, keri silvyn with lazarus and silvyn.
>> my apologies. >> it's okay. Lazarus was my name for the first half of my life.
it's all good. My father will be very happy to know you called me keri lazarus.
with your indulgence this evening, what I'd like to do is a single presentation for both.
I know we have the luckett north. That's where we are right now. Your next item will be luckett south,
but instead of doing this twice, I'm going to go ahead and consolidate the two,
but obviously, available to answer any questions. I want to introduce a few people from our team who are here with us tonight,
from my firm, jackson cassidy and rory juneman are here,
from the beale infrastructure team, we have arnaud dusser and nick torrance,
as well as michelle koch, from kimley horn, in case you ask any engineering-type questions.
you certainly don't want me answering those. We have aaron harris with us as well.
also available are representatives from the utilities,
in case you have any questions: trico tep, and cortaro marana irrigation district.
what I'd like to do in this presentation is introduce beale and data centers generally,
talk about why southern arizona and why the town of marana, and then step through how we're meeting your ordinance and what's being proposed tonight.
staff and I do have some duplicating slides.
I am going to go a little bit more quickly through the ones that we duplicate,
but can certainly go back if there are any questions from our perspective on what those are.
beale infrastructure. Beale is a infrastructure partners with
the world's leading technology companies to develop data centers and infrastructure that support national economic growth.
it's well capitalized with a project team of industry veterans with deep experience in delivering infrastructure projects.
beale works closely with communities to understand local resource constraints and develop a responsible sustainable roadmap for growth.
beale was founded on the values and the commitments as it says on the slide to sustainability,
community investment, and health and safety. What is a data center?
data center is really that physical backbone of the internet.
they drive our modern economy and have become essential to our daily lives.
every one of us: our children, grandchildren, friends, have cell phones.
anything that we do on those phones relative to social media or computers.
social media, online banking, access to our doctor or medical records,
checking online status of anything, buying tickets, those all touch data centers.
that is the physical backbone, and again, the physical infrastructure that allows those to operate.
data center support all of the region's major industries, enabling both day-to-day operations,
and long-term innovation in things like aerospace and defense, bio-science and healthcare, advanced manufacturing, financial services,
education, and research, tourism, and all levels of government.
the buildings, how's the servers to make all of this work?
if you think about the data that I just described, our medical records,
our financial records that we put out there into these data centers,
we need to be creating this infrastructure in the united states and not relying on foreign markets.
as technology is advancing, and we're able to create data centers that balance
more effectively the use of energy and water, markets like southern arizona begin to make sense.
air cooled, access to energy and renewable resources are all part
of what arizona has to offer in southern arizona in particular.
why marana and southern arizona? Strategic location.
first, we have a very low level of natural disasters, which is critically important to,
again, that piece of critical infrastructure. For this proposal in particular,
and we'll talk about this a little bit more. This area, this 300 acres plus the 300 acres to
the south is surrounded by industrial to the north and to the west,
the air park to the north as well. It's currently farmland.
it's in the far northern marana area. It is planned based on
your updated general plan for industrial and employment growth in the future.
it is across the street from the veterans memorial cemetery.
we have worked with the town to create that new access along luckett that you heard
about from mr. Angel just a few minutes ago to make it easier,
and we're being sensitive to that use as well, and we'll talk about that in a minute.
strong workforce. We have a very strong construction workforce in southern arizona, and currently,
a lot of those folks, both the construction trades and the local workforce have to travel outside of arizona,
at least outside of southern arizona for work. We don't have as much construction as we've had in the past.
what we're really excited about is that those construction workers, many of whom are here this evening,
are not having to get up really early in the morning, drive up to phoenix on a project and drive
back or even have to leave for long periods of times, weeks for projects that are possibly even outside of the state.
we're really excited to be providing those construction jobs and we'll hear a little bit more about that.
beale also has a commitment to workforce training locally. Our regional community college, pima community college,
and others already have infrastructure in place for that training and are
already talking to us about how we can increase that capacity and assist them.
the dialogue has also started with the marana school district foundation,
as well as the marana school district superintendent about those additional potential resources.
this project is going to provide more technology jobs as well as construction jobs as it moves forward and really try to help keep our college graduates,
which we hear a lot, especially those of us who have had children, keep them in our region rather than them having to leave for those types of jobs.
last is power availability, it's close to planned extensions of infrastructure and fiber,
which is critically important for the data centers. Again, we're working with both trico and tep as well on the two sites.
this is just a map that gives you a little bit more of a sense of the regional context,
the designated growth area and employment area. Mr. Angel already went over,
which was that purple, and I'll show you that in just a minute. We're away from existing residential.
the nearest resident is a mile away from either one of these two sites.
as you go further north on the site, it's even more longer than a mile distance.
we're near I-10 and the panel air park, both of which are significant noise creators,
proximity to power, and we are not going to have impacts to sensitive habitat.
this is retired farmland and no findings of cultural resources.
this is a very busy map, and I apologize, but it gives you a sense of what I think we've already gone over,
which is what's going on around. The north, you have industrial commercial. We have the veteran cemetery and some other commercial,
the solar energy and the agriculture to the south. This is just one more picture.
it's a current google earth that actually shows the solar panels, so you can see where luckett north and luckett south are, the industrial,
the air park, I-10, the solar facilities, the farming, and you can see that there is no residential within a mile, and it's planned.
this whole area is planned for employment in industrial uses.
there's your purple area that you saw from mr. Angel's map.
I want to talk really quickly about these two specific plans.
you're seeing luckett north and luckett south. They're each 300 acres for a total potential of 600 acres.
we are rezoning to specific plan, which is what your data center ordinance asks us to do.
what's also in front of you is a minor amendment to your general plan.
your general plan calls this out as employment. Whenever you rezone to a specific plan,
you actually have a designation that's required, which is called master-planned area.
we need to do a minor amendment to just track that this is going to be a specific plan.
but the policies all relate. In other words, the specific plan to data center
is in compliance with your employment designation. It's just a minor amendment to change the map colors.
one other things I want to touch on here and I have one other slide,
but it's important because it's a lot of the questions that have been asked is relative to the air-based cooling technology.
>> as we've said before, bill has heard this community in the region loud and clear and wants
an air-based cooling technology with no consumptive water for cooling.
the data center ordinance that you adopted a year ago, and we thank you for doing that because you're ready for this project or
a project requires cmid supply the non-potable for the minimal industrial irrigation and fire suppression.
the water usage today on this 600 acres for farming is about 2000-acre feet per year.
the need once this is up and operational is about 40 acre feet per year.
that's not just coming from us. We've been working with cmid, and you can see it in some of the letters and it's in our application.
it is our commitment to this project to do air-based cooling technology.
this is a 98% reduction in water use for the 600 acres.
the potable water use, again, will be, as mr. Angel said, is the town of marana,
and that will be for office type uses, domestic type uses.
as many of you have pointed out, your staff worked really hard and long on research to,
I believe it's the first data center ordinance in arizona that was adopted over a year ago,
acknowledging that this use may be coming in appropriate ways for this use to come in.
>> carrie, have you asked for any variation in that ordinance? >> mayor, vice mayor, we have not.
>> you're going to adhere to that as written? >> yes, sir. These are all of the pieces of the data center ordinance,
and as you pointed out, you have an opportunity in your ordinance to request and justify changes.
we are not requesting any changes at all. We are 100% complying with each of those boxes in your ordinance.
I'm going to step through those as well. Permitted uses, the primary use is a data center,
you can do ancillary uses. One of those ancillary uses is emergency only generators.
I'm going to talk a little bit about that because that's caused
a lot of questions and I want to try and answer some of those if I can.
but obviously, if I don't, I can come back up after the public portion.
these are only permitted for emergencies, and that would be a blackout situation where
the utility provider cannot provide energy to the site. Per year ordinance, all of these generators must be tier 4 or newer for emissions,
which is the highest standard. Tier 4 right now is the highest standard.
the or newer is to, I believe, acknowledge that the status center ordinance is going to be in existence for a while,
and so if there's a newer, then that has to be complied with.
the number of generators is not determined at this time because the design is not yet ready.
this is a question of the basic use being permitted. Then we start working on design and with the utilities and with the other regulators,
state and federal regulators relative to emissions. We got to get the use going first, approved first,
and then we will be in that stage, so we don't know how many generators.
>> carrie, who regulates the generators? >> mayor and vice mayor,
the generators, they have to comply with state and federal regulations.
pdeq is the primary air emissions regulator.
I have in my notebook, the list of all of the regulations and all of the agencies that are involved,
if you'd like me to get that. >> no. >> okay. >> but they are regulated by an agency that inspects?
>> mayor and vice mayor, they are heavily regulated,
and the regulation is a combination of providing those regulators the actual data.
the amount of the generators at the time that we're ready to do that, they double check that.
I think we have to actually give the numbers of the actual generators that are on site,
those get inspected, and then there's ongoing monitoring. That is the extent of my understanding,
so if you have follow-up questions on that, I can [overlapping] members. >> well, that answered it quite well. Thank you.
>> that your data center ordinance requires, and we put it in the specific plan that these can only be
tested weekdays between 8:00 am, and 5:00 pm. They are each required to be tested.
it's called a no load test, only once per month, as opposed to weekly,
which I think there's some things out there talking about weekly, and it's once per month,
only about 15-30 minutes each. They are not all tested at the same time,
and again, it's a no load testing, and we will comply with all federal and state air quality requirements because we have to, and we will.
any calculations or estimates presented or created related to
these backup generation needs or any of those emissions, really when it relates to this site are premature and not accurate.
we don't have that information yet, and again, it's going to come at a later date with the appropriate regulators.
however, I do want to point out again, that all of your data center ordinance requirements
for generators are in our specific plan and will be complied with,
so we are complying with those. Our building design, we do not have our building designed yet.
you have a number of requirements, everybody's favorite word fenestration.
there are requirements for variations and facades, masking requirements, neutral color palettes.
we will be complying with those, those are in our specific plan.
they're required wherever the buildings can be seen from public rights of way and the edges.
these are just examples. Again, our buildings are not designed. These are examples of other buildings that have included
the types of design elements that are listed in your ordinance.
I'm not representing that these are what the building is going to look like. It's not designed. Again,
they're representative of those architectural elements. I am not going to read you this slide in the data center ordinance and our specific plan.
these are the setback and the buffers and screening requirements. We will comply with those.
they are reiterated in our specific plan. I want to touch on noise for a minute.
I know this is a really busy slide, but this was brought up a lot at the planning commission.
you have very stringent requirements relative to noise.
I realize that the data center ordinance was adopted because it applies all over the town.
as I mentioned before, this is an area where we don't have residential,
which are considered the sensitive noise receptors that are related to data centers.
that being said, we are not only complying, but we're actually doing a better job based on our modeling.
your data center ordinance requires that we model beforehand and then we true it up at the end.
once we're operational, because we had to make some assumptions about design to model it.
we did model it, and I'll show you that in just a minute. But as soon as we're up and operational,
we have to go out there and demonstrate with a noise analyst and a noise meter that we are meeting your requirements.
one of the things we talk about dba decibel levels. Nobody really understands what that means.
what we tried to do along the top was give you an explanation of what those decibel levels mean.
you can see the most stringent is somewhere between 55-60,
and that is really between the average home noise and
a normal conversation or maybe a little bit of background music.
sometimes when you're working, I will not say it's what my teenage kids
used to call background music in their bedrooms, it's what I would call background music while I'm working.
those are the requirements at the property line. Our sensitive noise receptor is really the memorial cemetery,
and we heard a lot about that. We are required to be at that lower 55 dba at the property line.
that's a conversation, I would say it's not even what I'm saying in a microphone,
a conversation between two people. Then you have landscaping,
you have the roadway, you have more landscaping on the memorial side and then a setback.
what we've discovered in doing our baseline noise study is at any given time,
the traffic on I-10, the planes from panel air park are all going to be
louder than even what's going on at our property line.
what we want to show you is that we did our noise, the required modeling for luckett north.
I'm going to show you luckett south in a minute.
you will see that on the far right is the modeling,
which is significantly lower than what the town requires. We will exceed what the town requires at a minimum,
we will meet it, and we will true this up once we have the project up and operational.
this is north and you'll see the same thing for luckett south, and I can come back to this.
>> miss sullivan? >> yes. >> if I remember in the ordinance and just to bring it forward
is we will have the opportunity to pick the third party, correct?
that will come in and check this for us to make
sure that these noise levels are what's required and pursuant to the ordinance, correct?
>> mayor, vice mayor, I actually don't have that portion of the ordinance memorized,
but I know we intend to work with the town on that consultant,
so I'll say yes. >> I have a little bit of that memorized.
>> yes. >> because noise, it's not that tangible.
>> mayor and vice mayor, I would say it is measurable from instruments that you can measure it with.
there's no fudge factor on measuring noise with those things, so yes.
>> thank you. >> mr. Mayor and vice mayor ziegler. The studies must be performed by a qualified third party acoustic engineer,
so the town would have to determine that they are qualified. >> yes, and we pick that third party, we as a town,
or is it in conjunction with the [inaudible]? >> mayor post, vice mayor ziegler.
we would not pick the third party acoustic engineer,
but we would have to determine, we would look at their cv,
their resume, make sure that they're qualified, that we're going to accept their results.
>> who chooses that third party? >> vice mayor, that would be chosen by the developer of the data center.
>> thank you. >> I would just add, mayor, vice mayor,
we would be presenting those credentials to the town before we do it to make
sure that that person is appropriately credentialed and get your okay on that as well.
to be clear, there aren't that many noise acoustical engineers in the state in this area of the region,
so it's a small number of folks who have that degree and are able to provide that information.
>> I'm sorry. Ms. Farrell,
I thought and I guess my mind is I thought it was a decision
by the town of marana to pick the third party,
and so that's my error. I thought the third party was somebody we chose or chose together,
let's say, mutually agreed with the third party. But it sounds like I'm in error.
>> vice mayor roxanne ziegler, I'll just read exactly what this section of it says.
>> thank you. >> the data center operator must conduct a post construction noise study performed by
a qualified third party acoustic engineer to document sound levels emanating from the data center after the construction is done.
it would be at the developer's cost that they have to conduct this,
and they would have to convince the town that it is a qualified third party acoustic engineer.
I guess in that sense, we do have the ability to veto the choice that they've picked,
but those are the words that are in the ordinance, what I read there.
>> thank you, jane. >> carrie, how does the ordinance handle the pitch,
the noise pitch? Or does it? >> mr. Mayor, no. The charts that miss sullivan had up,
that is what the ordinance addresses. Is the decibel levels maximum allowed decibel levels during
daytime hours and during nighttime hours depending upon the zoning of the affected property.
>> would that pick up a particular machinery pitch of noise?
>> mr. Mayor, obviously, I'm not a third party acoustic engineer.
>> oh, you're a lawyer. [laughter] >> but what it will be looking at is strictly a decibel level.
>> last thing I want is a phone call from my mother saying that she cannot sleep.
>> mayor, understood. >> yeah.
>> this slide is one of them that I think that mr. Angel has done a great job of going through.
these are the infrastructure commitments. They're all codified in the ordinance conditions in
both ordinances for luckett north and luckett south. These are commitments that bill is making to extension of infrastructure.
I mentioned before that this area is designated for future employment and industrial use.
what has not happened yet is an extension of a lot of this infrastructure to open
this area up for that future use as designated in your general plan.
this begins that process with a developer coming in and paying,
as mr. Angel pointed out for these pieces of infrastructure.
we can come back to this if we need to, but I don't need to dwell on that. I want to touch on the economic impact and this is
something that we probably have not done as good a job as we should have in making
sure it's out there as positives for the community. This was done by an independent third party,
it's an independent third party analysis. A couple of things that you need to know is that these numbers already incorporate
the reductions for state level incentives that are available for data centers.
this includes those. These are the final numbers after those are deducted.
the other is that you have a marana job creation incentive program that I think was adopted in 2013,
or ms. Farrell can correct me if I'm wrong, and that specifically does not permit
data centers to avail themselves of any economic incentives for the town of marana.
we are not availing ourselves because we can't as to any of your local economic incentive opportunities.
these numbers, therefore, don't deduct anything for the town of marana because we don't get to.
this third party economic analysis was based on the first phase of this project,
which is less than the full 600 acres. What it tells you is obvious,
but the capital investment is $5 billion over a multi-year construction period.
what we did was broke out the amount of tax revenue for the first 10 years that would come to the town of marana,
which is 145 million. The footnote, which it's always fun to read a footnote on a powerpoint presentation.
but what the footnote tells you is that the total taxes for state,
county, and town over that 10 years is actually 407 million.
that does include some of the school stuff,
which we can talk about. >> can you go over that just real quick, real brief? Do you remember that?
>> let's talk about the fire, too.
>> mayor, vice mayor, and members of the council.
that's my way of stalling to get to the right page.
this independent third party analysis includes that estimate for both fire and school.
I'm going to do fire first. For the first phase and first 10 years,
it's anticipated to have an additional revenue to the fire district of over $15 million.
you're probably aware of this, but annexation into the northwest fire district is the intended fire district.
the question of how much revenue is anticipated for the school district,
again, it's first phase first 10 years. It's estimated to generate over $25 million to the school district.
roughly 15.5 million will go towards the state's primary qualifying tax rate,
what's called a qtr, as the project adds billions in local assessment.
that's how the school handles and is able to increase tax revenues.
the direct local benefit also includes overrides and bonds,
and that's another 10.4. Those two together gets you to the 25 million.
the bonds and overrides are generated via secondary taxes,
overrides like prop 411 and the bonds. This money stays 100% within the marana school district.
if you have any follow up questions, you might have to ask the school superintendent or.
I do, but I think you can answer this. You talked earlier about doing some things for the foundation,
and that doesn't include those numbers, is that correct? Mayor and vice mayor,
members of the council, that is correct. Those are the numbers that are generated from this economic analysis that
are based on things that will come directly to marana school district,
based on state formulas and overrides. In addition to that,
we are working with the marana school district foundation, and those conversations have started.
yes. The last three columns on here, I want to touch on over almost $1 million estimated in impact fees.
those are one time fees as the construction occurs. The estimate also includes 4,200 construction
jobs over the life of the project for phase 1,
which is probably we estimate 2026 to 2030.
then permanent jobs, and I want to highlight this is 400 permanent jobs.
these are positions that are onsite. They include engineers, technicians, operations, and security.
about half of these jobs will be professional engineering jobs, the other half or security and other jobs associated with the site.
there was some discussion in some of the next door and other places that these are jobs that come in and then go away.
these are the jobs that are required to sustain the first phase of the data center project.
also talked about jobs that were outsourced, like they didn't live here in the community.
is that you intend for these to be on site jobs? Mayor post and vice mayor eagle are members of the council,
these are intended to be on site jobs. There may be other jobs like that,
but these 400 are the on site jobs. Mr. Mayor?
yes. Miss so. Again, on the construction jobs, 4200/10 years.
the submit is from 20 for fate remember this phase 1.
we were estimating in this economic analysis that phase one would be about 2026 to 2030,
there will then be a second phase. This is phase 1? Yes. So that's phase one.
so eight years, 8,400 jobs, is that what we're.
vice mayor ziegler, the phase one may be
more than half and that's why we didn't want to suggest doubling.
there is another phase coming. We haven't identified yet exactly how much of the 600 acres is
phase 1 to be able to suggest a straight doubling,
but it's definitely not the whole site. The 400 jobs phase 1 or.
phase 1. All of these numbers are phase 1. Each is less than the full six hundreds.
I know some people were saying that these jobs wouldn't help our community.
I just want to make that clear that there will be at times skill sets that we need that we may not have here locally.
those folks [overlapping] we'd have to go out and get somebody from outside of marana,
that meets the skill sets for data center. But mostly they would be here in marana or local communities, sarita or tucson.
but again, we just want to point out that we're trying to get jobs in this town.
our citizens have asked for it over the years, in our general plan. It's everywhere, and we're getting bigger,
and we need to supply and make sure that we have jobs for them and future generations.
mayor, vice mayor, members of the council, I would also point out that's part of the commitment from beal as well if we identify
work needs in the data center for which we don't have the employment base in southern arizona.
that's exactly what pima community college is for. Then stepping back even before community college and
workforce training is the local school district. Those are the kinds of conversations where we can
identify the kinds of training that's needed into the mayor's point, see what we can do to train up our local workforce,
and that is a commitment of bl. Thank you. Touch on power.
for a minute, there have been a lot of questions and people providing calculations
relative to power and energy use that are not necessarily based on this project,
and proposal or the requirements for power energy approvals in arizona.
I think all of you know power is actually regulated, not at the local level,
it's regulated by the arizona corporation commission. What the town's ordinance requires,
which is what we're before you tonight to demonstrate we have met,
which is to provide you the information. We have the letters from the utilities,
and we have checked that box essentially. The next step after this is to design the site and to work with
trico and tep respectively, and respectfully.
that will whatever energy services agreements we negotiate and work
through have a very public approval process through the arizona corporation commission that we will be going through.
again, the next phase. Many of the questions that are being posed of you relate to
that next stage of the process and they will be answered at that time. What we know is that we are in conformance with your ordinance.
our estimates are 550-750 megawatts per site.
north is served by trico, south is served by tep.
this is a estimated buildout. Again, we haven't designed. It could be less than this,
and the ramp up starts at about 10- 20% of whatever our
agreed upon amount is with our electric providers and then we'll ramp up over 2-3 years.
I want to touch on another issue that has come up, which is the question about increased rates because of data centers.
the utilities and the data centers have really learned a lot from fortunately on other people's backs.
other jurisdictions as well as even some of the jurisdictions up in the phoenix area.
the goal has been and teps and trico have both said,
we are not doing this unless we know we can avoid what are called ratepayer stranded costs.
those are costs that ultimately get put back on the ratepayers. The current best practices in order to avoid what has gone on in
other jurisdictions and is being deployed in southern arizona through both of these utilities,
is that bl be required to pay for all of
the infrastructure for these data centers with strong financial guarantees,
and that's where some people missed the boat. Things like letters of credit, bonds so that when you enter into these agreements,
which is why they come next because we need to have the basic use permitted.
b will be putting up the financial incentives, I'm sorry,
the financial guarantees in order to make sure that they actually build
the infrastructure as it proceeds through the project.
those are bonds, lines of credit, all of that.
the second is that there is a required minimum rate with
no economic incentives that data centers will have to pay starting when the energy is available.
there's some other jurisdictions. There have been instances where these agreements
have been made and then the data center doesn't actually operate, but the infrastructure has been built by the utility.
these are the kinds of things that avoid that so that it doesn't fall back on the rate payers.
the other thing and again, t ep and trico are both here, data centers,
when it comes to future and the ongoing rates in the use of power,
data centers are consistent and reliable users of energy, which means that the utilities fixed costs,
which is the infrastructure, and then future infrastructure end up being spread over a larger amount of energy sales,
which can actually reduce the cost of electricity for rate payers in the future.
you heard at the planning commission from trico that with this added user,
there's a potential where future rate increases could actually be pushed out for local marana residents,
that will allow a lot more of
the rates to be spread out for a longer period of time prior to a rate increase.
fortunately, trico is here so he can explain that better than I just did because I'm not sure I did a very good job of that.
let me I was going to move to water. Yes. But I wanted to ask a question about the jobs,
particularly the construction jobs.
are we intending to hire those from our community?
I mean, are you going to go with a contractor out of state? Were they then bring them in?
how I mean, union jobs, non union? What if we don't have enough of either one? How does that going to work?
mayor, vice mayor, members of the council, all of that [laughter].
the goal is to really focus on local workforce and all that that means,
including we have some union labor as well and we intend to employ what we need to build the project.
we want to keep it local. That's part of the partnering with pima community college.
they do a lot of the construction workforce training in the various trades.
the unions do some of that training as well, and we're talking with them.
the goal is to keep it local as much as possible. There may be some things,
as vice mayor pointed out, that might require some expertise that we don't have here.
while we're trying to build that, we may need to bring it in. It will be all of that,
but with truly a goal of sharing up our local workforce, and again, keeping our people here.
you're moving on to water, but we'll get an opportunity to have the representatives from the power companies,
I'm assuming after you're done. Mayor vice mayor, whatever your pleasure. I can finish my.
go ahead and finish and then I pick brian first,
so get ready [laughter].
water, I've already touched on this, but I want to say it again because it's a lot of what's out there in the universe.
this is an air cool technology, a closed loop system that will consume no water for industrial cooling.
it's actually a 98% reduction in what the water that's actually used on the full 600 acres now.
we've already talked about the fact that potable water is marana water and
the non potable is the cortaro marana irrigation district. If you have questions about that, we can come back.
this is the same slide you saw before. We are in compliance with your ordinance,
the noise attenuation we talked about, building design standards, water consumption and source,
the energy needs, we meet your ordinance. Lighting, I forgot to talk about.
you have an outdoor lighting code. It's required in the data center ordinance that we comply with it.
we put in our specific plan that we will be complying with it. Lighting, we will comply with outdoor lighting,
all of the site development standards, setbacks, buffer yards, the generators we talked about,
and then landscaping and screening. We meet and have not requested any modifications of your data center ordinance.
carrie, I've had a few e mails that
ask about if you're unable to water cool or I'm sorry,
air cool this facility, would you switch to water?
mayor, vice mayor, members of the council, our commitment in the specific plan is to
an air cooled system and all of our data that we've given you is air cooled.
if we were to somehow suggest that we're going to switch to a water cooled,
we're going to have to come back before you with a specific plan amendment. Do you would have to do this all over again?
yes. I would suggest we're not pro. I'm not a big fan of that.
yes. Could that answer your question? Yeah, I did. Thank you.
last, because this is a state level requirement, and I want to make sure we touch on it.
it's in the staff report. We are required to have a neighborhood meeting with our most adjacent neighbors.
this is not a required community meeting. It's a required neighborhood meeting because we need to make sure you all want to
make sure and the state wants to make sure that we are talking to all of our adjacent neighbors.
we had that meeting on november 19. We presented the project. We had about 10-15 people that were there and the one question,
lots of thank you's, and the question was, what is the expected opening date. [overlapping] they just asked what the expected opening date would be.
with that, we respectfully request your approval of both luckett north and luckett south,
knowing luckett north is what you have the public hearing right now for.
I'm happy to answer any more questions now after the public meeting.
probably. Does anybody have any questions [overlapping]. I'm hearing a lot about portable water and cmid water.
I'm confused about this. We got an offer under marana and it contains water.
we all use groundwater, irrigation and drinking water.
that water is there. Is there a wall between the cmid and the drinking water?
probably not. But when we use cmid water, and we call it non potable water,
it is in the non potable mix, isn't it? Is in the potable mix.
I mean, it's in the potable mix. It could be a variation of different kinds of water.
it could be effluent, it could be [overlapping] no.
they have different sources for the [overlapping]. They have different sources. May or may not come from it,
may or may not be groundwater. But I see the big wells and that bring up the cmid water.
[overlapping]. Surface water, groundwater, cap water, effluent water.
there's a whole mix of availability for the irrigation district.
thank you. I'd like to ask a question about generators. I know you mentioned that it's a little too early to be thinking about the generators,
but if you're designing all this and you're going to be thinking about what we really need.
I'll submit that you look at a generator, the state of the art here for a generator,
caterpillar makes the most of them. Those generators provide 4 megawatts of power.
if you've got 750 megawatt data center,
you're going to need 187.5 generators times two because that gives you 374 generators,
and they're about the size of half this section over here, if not bigger. My math is going to continuing just a little bit.
there's an engineering acumen. You want to have a built in a safety factor,
so you want to increase that by 25%. Now, instead of 374 generators surrounding these data centers, you've got 470.
>> on a mid july power adage outage where there's stress on the grid.
undoubtedly, there may be, we don't know. There's a lot of unknowns here. Those things fire up.
I think the noise is going to be a lot greater than you think. The soot and the smoke coming out of those,
is not going to be pretty. It's going to cause a problem, especially for the cemetery nearby.
it's going to be very loud [applause]. It's going to be much louder than the roadway.
I just need some clarity on that. Does bell understand that really,
what we need to make sure because people that putting information of these data centers,
they want it to be running. They don't want it to be slowing down, they want to keep them going.
because this data has got to be crunched down. An outage, they don't want to be slowing down.
they'll fire up those generators very quickly.
>> my name is arnaud dusser. I'm director of development with beale infrastructure,
mayor post, vice mayor ziegler, council member kavanagh. On the question of generators more broadly,
you bring up the point of number of generators. The reality is that we don't have the ability to
just put in as many generators as we want. There's a cap that's on how many we can put which is dependent on,
as we mentioned earlier in the presentation, what pdq allows us to do.
pdq, there's very strict regulations around this, mostly guided by the epa that limit the amount of emissions.
as you point to tier four generators. That's a certain level of emission per generator.
now, the amount of generators that we will ultimately, the maximum number of generators that we are allowed to put in,
dictated by those limits that are enforced by pdq.
that is what guides ultimately the ultimate maximum of generators that we're able to put in,
and those limits are put in place by pdq to avoid
impacts to the local air quality surrounding the site and in the town of marana.
ultimately, right now, what we're talking about is the land use.
the individual generators, each one of them, we need to go through a process of obtaining a permit from pdq.
at that point, we are submitting the exact specifications of the generators that we're putting in,
which will guide what the size is, etc. Then we're putting in exactly what the emissions are.
then ultimately, it's monitored on a yearly basis to ensure that we're
within those regulated limitations so therefore,
making sure that we're not just blatantly polluting the area.
>> [overlapping] thank you. Just to be more clear, data centers are in business to stay on. They don't want to slow down on a late july or mid july day.
you don't want to be slowing them down, right? >> that is correct. >> if you have a power outage for any reason,
not because of data centers, but you got to be able to give the power
to that data center and you need a certain amount of generators to give that power, just be aware.
>> it's in the same way as data centers are critical infrastructure in the same way as a hospital is [laughter],
which is why above hospitals, you have generators that ensure that in the case of a blackout,
you have continuous power to make sure that those critical elements continue to operate.
the exact amount of power that's required to maintain that critical level is very dependent on the ultimate design,
which we'll go through over the next several months, and then we'll be going through the process with pdq in order to determine exactly how many generators will need.
>> thank you. >> thank you.
>> any other questions for carrie, council member officer? >> [inaudible] day to
day then it turns over batter is that [inaudible] battery system that what you are able to do?
>> mayor post, vice mayor ziegler, council member officer.
it's actually the other way around. Typically, you'll have the batteries that kick on first and then when they run out,
you'll have the generators. It's usually a ups system,
so uninterruptable power supply that kicks on first that ensures that you don't have any reduction in power.
that's also what is used in the case of brownout. The idea is to use a combination of both both batteries and generators.
>> thank you carrie. >> thank you. >> heithoff, would you please come on up here
and tell me why my power bill went up 10 percent?
>> brian, I really, I'm a big fan of trico been a customer all my life.
I'm very comfortable with you here answering the questions for our community,
your community member, all your board of directors, live in the community.
they answer to your consumers and so you know,
I'm really happy that you're here to answer some of these questions. I'm looking at a sign back there that says, which yes,
vote council member is going to pay my electric bill increase and so how about it?
>> I can start with just talking a little bit. Thank you, mayor. Council members. I can talk a little bit about just who trico is to start with.
>> I would, that'd be great. >> you introduced us a little bit. >> did you introduce yourself?
>> yes. >> I think you. >> okay. You did. >> I'm brian heithoff, and I live and work here in marana.
I am the ceo of trico electric cooperative. >> I just wanted everyone to know who you were. Thank you.
>> a little bit about trico. We are a customer owned utility.
we serve in and around this area and have since 1945.
we started, actually just our first substation and lines,
we're just a couple of miles from this particular site, and we are headquartered here in marana.
we have 165 employees, about 50,000 members in the electric coop space,
there's 900 electric coops across the united states that puts us in the larger category.
we are an experienced organization, we're a capable organization and as you mentioned, mayor,
we are governed by an elected board, and they are customers,
who we call members and owners of the organization. We have districts like other organizations.
that's who I report to. I do not sit on the board. I report to the board,
and they govern the organization through policies,
procedures, guidance, and then my job is to carry that out.
that starts. I guess, one of the things I think is important is like the town council,
we saw this coming before it actually came and so we also developed principles and
expectations or the board did and gave those to staff
for us to work on or through when we have data center prospects.
we've been doing that. The heart of those principles are that we protect our members.
if you think of it as a not for profit organization,
we don't have a profit motive, and so one of the most important things is,
how do we protect our membership?
we have done that. As miss sullivan had indicated,
the infrastructure when it comes to the distribution facilities, so that's the distribution substation on site.
the high voltage transmission line, which is to get the power from the book power system to
the local site and the generation facilities that will be required to serve this site,
the costs and the risks will be borne by the applicant.
there are no stranded costs. There are no infrastructure costs that we're responsible for, we're at risk of.
then in addition to that, there's also revenue potential and yes,
it was mentioned that we just increased our members rates approximately 7% on january 1st.
that's based on 2023 costs.
we go through a process. Whenever we have a rate increase, it's like the water issue earlier where we have a cost of
service study and because of the regulatory lag,
in order to implement a rate increase, we are actually working a couple of years in advance.
we did the cost of service study based on 2023.
was approved by our board, they pay the same rates as our members,
and then it went to the arizona corporations commission for their scrutiny and there and ultimately,
they decided to approve it and that went into effect on january 1st.
now, part of the story is that we have not increased rates since 2017 or base rates.
we had gone almost nine years in between the time we had
base rate increases and looking forward, we have modeling.
now, the inflation and cost increases in our industry are higher than what they have
been and so we are anticipating our next rate adjustment or increase in 2029.
>> no matter what? >> no. [laughter] there's variables.
we make assumptions in our modeling. >> your model shows no data center included,
your model shows a rate increase in 2029. >> just reasonable assumptions.
maybe that's 2028? Maybe that's 2030? By 2029.
it also shows that the revenues from this project,
and this is a conservative estimate, it will push the need for that rate increase out three to four years.
that's on the low end of the power requirements mentioned.
if it's even higher or if there's future phases, we're now looking at probably double or maybe even triple that number
as far as how far we can push that rate increase out. Let's just say that the base rate does get pushed up a year.
there's a deep recession or some geopolitical event that just causes us to whatever.
but the differential is still the same. The need for the rate increase with the data center is still
three to four years after. After that. That's what our projections show.
I guess to maybe summarize all that, we are protected first and foremost,
and we protected our members. There's no benefit to trico per say,
it's for the benefit of our members because everything flows through us. We're a cooperative. That's how it works.
>> there's a huge need for infrastructure improvements to your system.
who's paying for that? >> our current outside of the data center.
>> no data center. >> data center will be the costs and the risks are assumed by that.
>> they're going to pay all of that. How are you going to assure that they're going to pay all of that?
>> that'll all be done well, in one way. I mean, there are going to be contracts that we've started developing and we'll need to,
depending on the decision here, move forward with. But it's really before we start
moving any ground before we buy any equipment, before we buy any material? >> you will get that money in advance of you building the required system?
>> that's correct. >> there will not be any risk to your rate payer?
>> that's correct. >> if they don't use it,
what happens? They still pay? >> they don't use it.
>> if they don't use the power that they've- >> [overlapping] yeah. That actually goes back to silman comments also.
the contract, the ongoing contracts will have fixed costs. It'll be on the first date of power availability,
not whether they need it or not. Let's say that they delay it.
there's a delay. It's the contracts will be written that
we'll start billing when it's available and we'll have agreed upon that in advance.
>> did anybody else have questions for brian? >> yeah [inaudible].
mayor thank you. >> I turn it off. Thank you.
mayor asked me if anybody. Thank you, mayor. Appreciate it. >> hi. Big power line,
big structure is coming through because the data center needs it.
that's going to be for the trico membership, isn't it? How do you say that power bringing in major transmission lines from the north or wherever
these power stations are going to be built because we're going to need to build a lot of them to provide the power necessary for not just a marana,
but other data centers around southern arizona. How are you going to segregate that out and say, look,
they're going to pay for 100% of those transmission lines? >> mayor through you to council member kavanagh.
in this case, our studies indicate and the preliminary designs are indicating dedicated structures for the site.
we have an interconnection point, and there will be dedicated structures so therefore,
the cost allocation is really easy. >> okay.
>> vice mayor. >> thank you, mr. Mayor so to be clear.
data I'm sorry, on next door, facebook, instagram, a couple of other social media platforms,
folks have said that these increases.
we'll start with trico. A lot of people are saying,
you're raising your rates and that's because of this data center.
I want to make sure that everybody understands that's not true.
along and that's what you've said when miss tep comes up here. First of all, I wish I was a trico member, because tep,
you've been given us some late changes here often, and you've only done it since 2017,
so I might have to move. But in the same with tep, the same thing,
I see so many people saying, the reason they're raising our rates is because of the data center.
that frustrates me because again, that's not the way it works.
you work start here and you go into the future,
like you were saying on what the rate is going to be. I just wanted to make that clear and have you make that clear
that that's what people are seeing in this rate.
it's a little coincidence that tep and trico are raising their rates,
but it isn't based on the data center. Thank you.
>> mayor, to you, vice chair ziegler, if I can comment, or add to that?
absolutely. It would be that the rate increase we just put in place
were actually based on the cost and the rate in the in the material,
labor equipment, increases that we experienced in 2022 and 2023,
because that's when the cost of service was done. It just there's a regulatory lag between the time when we had we did
the study and the time when we can put a rate increase in place.
>> thank you. >> to put that more clearly,
there's no data center costs in that and if we were to do one today,
because of the way we're structuring it, there are no data center costs in a future rate increase.
>> it's almost like a separate way.
>> mayor, it's a rate making concept that we use in other places,
but it's a direct assignment of costs. >> but whatever their cost is, they're paying it, your rate payers have nothing to do with that?
>> yeah. Correct. >> any other questions from brian?
thank you very much, brian. I really appreciate it.
is there somebody here for tep?
>> guys. 2017. You guys.
>> apparently, the vice mayor is going to give you a hard time, so I apologize in advance for that.
>> that's okay. >> good evening, mayor, vice mayor, counsel.
I'm chris arb vice president of public policy for ts power. Thanks for having us tonight.
>> I guess the big question tonight is, will a data center increase the rates for your customers?
>> no. The answer is no. Similar to what brian mentioned.
to the extent we can add revenues to the system, that helps bring down those fixed costs for all of
our customers providing similar benefits that brian described. I'll just touch on your question, vice mayor.
the rate case that's pending right now for our company tucson on electric power,
that's based on a 2024 test period, none of the costs or expenses that we're seeking recovery for today are related
to the current projects before you or another project we're working with bill on in pima county.
>> do you anticipate using profits from a data center to offset your rates for your customers like trico is going to do, or you.
>> absolutely, those additional revenue requirements help us meet
the allowed return that's authorized by the corporation commission.
to the extent we can generate revenues that help us earn that return,
that helps us like brian mentioned, same with tep, helps us defer or delay those rate cases into the future.
>> what is the acc allowing you for a return? >> currently for tucson electric,
it's in the range of 9.3%, 9.4%? >> they like you to stick with pretty solid in that number?
>> they do and it's because of some of the regulatory lag concerns that mr. Cavanagh described,
it's typical that we have a hard time actually earning that because our rates are set on historic costs and investments.
>> you're comfortable that you will that our community would see
no rate increases based on a data center?
>> that's correct. >> any questions? >> may I have a question.
>> council member kavanagh. >> just a curiosity, chris.
when you go to the tep website, the first thing you see is, we all got to do our best to conserve energy.
but do we have an energy shortage? Is that why you're doing that?
I guess we can all do better. But the big question is where this power is going to come from.
>> mayor pose, vice mayor, council member kavanagh,
we always encourage customers to conserve energy like we do on the water side,
too, the cheapest power that we can get is the power we save. We've got energy efficiency standards
and requirements with the arizona corporation commission. But we think those are just good ways for customers
to save money on their bills and to help conserve energy. While that is one source of power,
it's certainly not enough to satisfy the demands of large customers like a data center.
>> any other questions? >> thank you very much.
>> thank you. >> does counsel need a break or do you want to continue to move forward?
[background].
>> jill, we're ready? I'm assuming. >> may post.
>> yes. >> mayor post. We're here. If I may, before we begin the public comment portion of the hearing,
I just wanted to make a comment for the record about councilor rakai not being present here
tonight that he does have a conflict of interest regarding these two rezoning applications.
he has declared that conflict. He has filed the appropriate paperwork.
with the town clerk's office. He is one of the property owners of the lockett road south property.
I just wanted to put that on the record. Since typically when we have conflicts of interest,
if a council member is here present, they would declare it from the dias and get down and leave and since he's not here,
I wanted to do that in his place. He has not participated as a council member in
any official capacity in any of the discussions or deliberations into these rezoning applications and
obviously isn't participating tonight in the public hearing or in the vote.
>> well, since you brought it up, are there any other conflicts of interest from our council members?
>> mr. Mayor, we are not aware of any facts that would give rise to a legal conflict
of interest for any of the other six council members under arizona state law.
>> thank you very much. Joe? >> yes, mr. Mayor. The first speaker is matthew rowan trapp,
followed by sue ritz and margaret schultz.
>> everybody said, let's go. I'm eating this.
>> that's, I feel like you get first all the time. >> because I show up early.
>> do that on purpose. Mayor post, council members.
my name is matthew rowan trap. I'm a lifelong marana resident and a current student at the university of arizona.
I would firstly like to recognize that many of the concerns I have about the environment, the economics,
and other unknowns about this project are shared by people who can articulate them much better than I could ever hope to.
we all heard them at the planning and zoning commission, and I assume that we will hear many more of them tonight.
tonight, I would like to use my time to not only address you, but also my fellow citizens on a more personal level.
firstly, council members, I ask you to remember that your responsibility tonight is to your constituents.
if tonight is anything like the planning and zoning commission, we will hear countless morana residents from all walks of life and
areas of expertise speak with concerns about this project. In the planning and zoning commission meeting, though,
the concerns of these citizens went largely unheard and unconsidered. I trust you though to be better and to listen to the engineers,
the research analysts, and the rate payers of your town. I know you all to be good honest people,
and I trust that even if you, like vice mayor ziegler, have received campaign funds from the families of keri silvyn and rory juneman,
you will not let that cloud your judgment, and I thank you deeply for that.
now, I would like to applaud and thank all of my friends and neighbors here for showing up tonight.
it fills me with such incredible hope to see such enthusiastic, and passionate civil engagement.
let's keep this passion flowing and use it to remember who we are at our core.
we are a town of veterans, artists, farmers, doctors, scientists, and students.
we are a town of first time homeowners and retirees, a town of friends, family, and neighbors.
we are a town built on community, not corporate interests and billionaire investments.
let's not let anyone forget that, least of all us. Thank you, counsel, and my friends.
[applause]
>> go ahead. Mr. Mayor. I'd like to address matthew. Sure. You want to come up to the podium?
>> is that out of order? >> we've got an attorney right here. You could ask her, sir.
>> mr. Mayor, vice mayor ziegler, this is a public hearing.
there can be comment from the council members, and they may respond to the comments that are made by the public.
>> thank you, jane. Matthew, you called me out and said that I had taken
a campaign contribution and lazarus a company, su.
>> not from their company, but from the individual partners, are silvan and roy jiman?
>> yes. That's absolutely right. You can find that, of course, as you guys did.
it's on our website, three clicks, and you can get right to the financials for 2024 and many years back.
first of all, title 16, I believe it is, title 16 is campaign finance.
I encourage you and others in here to read about title 16.
it allows campaign contributions.
I think across the country, even our presidents take campaign contributions.
I take campaign contributions because I am retired.
I make $40,000 a year. I work for 30 years, have a savings,
but I make $40,000 a year. I'm on a fixed income.
some of us and I would think a lot of us who run, and I know yourself and another individual are going to be running.
let me just say you may find
yourself wanting a campaign contribution to help you run your campaign.
what I'm saying to you is it's lawful.
again, title 16, please go there and look at that.
let me correct something. Your statements were that I took $7,000 from.
>> I did not say that. It was 300 from the family of silvan and 300 from the family of jimmy, if I'm correct.
>> but what I saw on media on next door.
I took $7,000. >> if I remember correctly, that was saying that mayor honea did,
which there has been a correction sent out. But I never made those statements.
>> you didn't. I apologize. Others made it.
let me continue, please. I did not take $7,000 from that company.
one of the reasons is because you can't. I think you guys need to read your handbooks.
it's 6,000. Secondly, I took 300.
I'd like to get that cleared up, and that went out everywhere. It was 300, and actually,
in your rebuttal or online, you showed the 300.
I want to make that clear. Other than that, I wish you luck,
but you need to pay attention of what you're doing.
but I thank you, at least you're cordial and I appreciate you.
the ua, good luck to you there. Great school. Thank you, sir.
>> before I go down. I do want to say that I appreciate you clarifying those things,
and I do understand and appreciate that the contributions were lawful.
I just wanted to ask and remind you that
they should not be a deciding factor in your vote tonight.
I trust your honor and your ethics to not let those clod your judgment,
but I just wanted to put that as a reminder. >> matthew, I appreciate that.
again, I've been up on this dies for 20 years. I'm not too concerned because I have a very good reputation in the town of marana.
not with everybody. There's people that do support me and don't like me,
and this is one of the reasons because I'm pretty straightforward. I see you are, too,
so that's great. Thank you. >> I appreciate your time,
and I look forward to hearing everybody else's comments and I'm sure you do the same.
thank you. [applause]
>> next speaker is sue ritz, followed by margaret schultz and then jackie mcguire.
>> mayor, vice mayor. Members of the council, my name is sue ritz.
I'm a marana town resident, a registered professional engineer and a veteran of 24 years in the army national guard.
I was at the zoning meeting and I heard a lot of stuff and I have written some remarks here,
but I'm going to throw them away. I'm going to address water first.
now, there have been statements made by beal, ntp, and others that the water consumption for these data centers is
greatly reduced because you're not going to actually be irrigating fields.
that does not address the amount of water that is consumed by the generating stations that provide the power to this data center.
the coal fire stations are currently only operated seasonally.
if this goes through, they're not going to be able to do that. They're going to have to keep that 903 megawatts
of name plate power operating, the stations,
I looked at their data, and I estimated that those stations consume 11,100 acre feet of water every year.
that is not a positive in the water category when you
are 900,000 acre feet in the deficit for cap water.
that's not good. Any additional power that you have to
generate to provide power to not just this power station,
but to others that are also being proposed in our same region,
three gigawatts north of us, 286 megawatts for project blue.
now 1,100 to 1,500 megawatts for this one,
you're going to have to build new generating stations. The only way you're going to have to do that is thermal generating stations.
those are 7-10 years out on lead time. Substation transformers are four years out on lead time.
think about that. Vote no. [applause]
>> next speaker is margaret schultz followed by jackie mcguire and then ryan zippie.
good evening, mayor and council. My name is margaret schultz and I'm a researcher with a nonprofit called worker power.
I'm here today with some concerns about the proposed rezoning of the 600 acre area for data centers.
as data center developments have accelerated across the united states.
communities have reported negative impacts, water contamination, air pollution,
and rising utility prices to name a few. La marana's ordinance to prevent data centers
from using potable water is a step in the right direction. Are the council members certain that there is enough contractual stipulations
in place to protect residents from all of the possible risks,
not just potable water use? Additionally, how will this over one gigawatt of power need be generated,
and are the council and mayor certain that the cost for building this energy infrastructure will not be passed on to ratepayers,
outside of verbal promises made by the companies themselves?
this is very critical in my opinion, and hasn't been addressed, although it is outside of the council's purview,
the question of what is the amount of money that the state tax breaks will allow the developers and end users to receive?
how does that fit into the economic impact of this project and considering not just removing the tax breaks,
but the opportunity cost of those tax breaks themselves. I think understanding that would be very critical before moving forward.
I'm asking that the mayor and council consider these questions and vote no if
you don't have very clear specific answers to these questions,
because this is the moment to make sure to build in all of those contractual stipulations as strictly as possible.
the consequences are for all of us for our shared water, air, and economic future.
what we've seen happen in other communities shows us the stakes are high,
and we really ask you to delay or vote no.
tonight, thank you for the opportunity to speak. [applause]
>> the next speaker is jackie mcguire, followed by ryan zippie, then perry from.
>> hello, mayor, vice mayor, members of the council. I appreciate that you want us to keep from calling out,
but last time three minutes was not nearly enough to cover all of this, two minutes certainly is not enough.
I have personally held community meetings and included more than 10 neighbors in the last few days,
and so I've compiled all of the concerns of these neighbors in these documents.
I am an ai data center and cybersecurity expert.
it's what I get paid to do for a living, and I consult with some of the executives of some of
the largest companies in the world on these matters. To quote the press release from yesterday from attorney general kris mayes.
citing a lack of transparency, attorney general kris mayes is contesting the arizona corporation commission's december 10th decision to
authorize tucson electric powers private energy agreement with humprey's peak power and beale infrastructure group,
to power a hyperscale data center notice project blue, which by the way, is 20% the size of the one that's being proposed today.
the loophole created for the developers of this data center to secretly set electricity rates behind closed doors and
outside the public process is a new rare and dangerous recipe for massive price hikes for arizona customers.
what guarantees do we have the bill is not going to exploit the loopholes that myself
and many other subject matter experts have passionately explained to you exist in this ordinance.
this ordinance needs to be about 10 times the length that it is.
we need a moratorium on this vote for at least six months to fully consider the fact that we were just
told not enough power from the grid constitutes an emergency where they can fire up all of those generators.
currently, trico puts out 230 megawatts of power
or roughly 20% of what would be needed for one of these data centers,
and that's assuming no residential growth. These data centers will consume almost as much power as
the entire tucson metropolitan area. They are guaranteeing transmission and infrastructure, not generation.
those things take 30 years to amortize, and we will pay those gains.
please delay this vote enough to understand what you don't understand or vote no.
thank you. [applause]
>> jackie, I also was very disappointed that you chose to bring ed honea into this mix.
a gentleman that gave his life for this town and is unable to
defend himself and then erroneously talk about the campaign contributions that he got.
even though he ended up donating and generally did donate his campaign contributions,
I thought it was in poor taste. >> the reason that that was misunderstood is that
ed honea's campaign erred in filing their campaign finance disclosures.
instead of filling out line by line the individual contracts. >> just the fact that you brought him into this argument?
>> it's important. [overlapping] if this process started in 2023 and you knew this was happening,
you should not have taken a dollar, any of you from anybody involved in this decision.
>> did I? >> I didn't say you did. I clarified multiple times in what I said.
I didn't write that article. >> jackie, all I said is that I thought it was in poor taste to bring up the mayor.
>> the mayor filed paperwork that on paper looked like an explicit violation of campaign finance laws.
not a single person in this town or government recognized that. I didn't file that paperwork.
multiple members filed incorrect campaign finance forms
where they did the math improperly. So when you looked at the total for the election cycle,
it absolutely did say that contributes $7700 to mayor honea. [overlapping] >> I think you're missing my point. There was absolutely no need to bring mayor honea.
>> there's a difference between legal and proper. >> he is unable to defend himself. >> something that is legal is not necessarily proper.
you should have known, you should not have taken that money because you
have known since 2023, unlike most of us. >> that's not true. Thank you very much. >> most of my neighbors don't even know this was happening.
>> thank you very much. >> mr. Mayor. > no, that's it. >> mr. Mayor, if I could,
I think it would be wise for the purposes of the public [overlapping] hearing just to have the public comments,
and then the council can respond after the public comments.
>> I heard what you say, but to tell you the truth, I'd rather do it as they come up jane,
because the reason is okay, an hour and a half from now, I'm not going to remember what matthew,
and sue ritz have come up. I'm not going to remember two hours from now what they said. That's why.
>> I did not file that paperwork, and I am sorry that the treasurer of late mayor honea's campaign filed paperwork with incorrect information on it.
but the fact that nobody in this town caught that should be a huge red flag.
that if we can't count on you to review a three page campaign finance form,
we're supposed to count on you to regulate a high personnel data center. >> thank you very much.
>> that's a joke. >> you're completely missing my point. >> that's a joke. >> thank you very much. >> jane.
>> thank you. >> jane, can we go ahead and continue. >> let's just move on. >> no. I want to make sure we can go ahead and continue.
I understand your suggestion and sometimes we do that when we have not so many people here,
but what I'm asking and maybe one of the other council members could speak up
is I would rather do it if it's appropriate as we go.
>> I think we just go through this. Let's just listen to what everybody needs to say and move on. I know.
>> maybe it's my memory or something. >> I know. But let's just.
>> no mayor. I just would rather do it that way, but if that's what you say then we'll go ahead.
>> can you call the next name please. >> yes, mr. Mayor. >> the next speaker is ryan zippie.
>> you need to respect them. >> I'm trying. >> good evening. I'm going to be a very unpopular speaker right now, I can tell.
mayor post, vice mayor ziegler, marana town council members.
thank you. My name is ryan zippie. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak this evening.
I'm the external vice president of northwest firefighters local 3572,
and also a 30 year resident of the town of marana. I've spent the last couple of weeks debating if I should address the town council as
a representative of the brave men and women I serve this community with or as a private citizen of the town of marana.
although I could make a very compelling argument as to the immense positive financial benefit
the data center would have for the members of my union. I lost my spot I apologize.
immense financial benefit the data center would have for the members of my union, and as a result,
the benefit to our community, due to the tax revenue the data center would generate by providing
critical resources needed to this town's first responders. Tonight, I would like to address you simply as a member of this great community.
as I have paid close attention to the progress of the potential for data centers to come to this community,
I have been nothing short of flabbergasted by the misleading information, convenient admission of the full picture,
and outright lies the opposition to the approval of the data centers has flooded the media with.
I have attended town council meetings in person and via live stream. I have listened to the podcast the town has promoted regarding the data centers,
and I have attended the community meetings, the town hosted to inform members of the community of
the safeguards the town has implemented with the passage of the data center ordinance.
I have read many comments on articles and social media posts with
the specific acronym nimby meaning not in my backyard
as someone who will quite literally be able to see the data center from their backyard,
I stand in full support of the approval of this data center, and appreciate the decisions that town council has made this far,
which has made the town of marana one of the best places to live in, work in, and most importantly raise a family in. Thank you.
>> thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker is perry from, followed by ron stoffer and then brendan sauber.
>> good evening, mayor, town council. My name is perry from.
I am a 31-year resident of marana. We have been very happy to live here.
when we retired, we moved from the west side of i10 over to the east side of i10.
so we are committed here. From what I have heard,
there have been some progress made in making this a reasonable project to go forward.
however, there seems to be still a number of issues that are unresolved,
and I feel that in regards to campaign contributions,
that there can be a shall I say lack of objectivity possible in here.
I would like to see not only a postponement of the vote to get all of the facts,
but I'd also like to see if we could do this as a referendum and actually let the citizen voters decide this.
it is our town, you are our elected representatives, but there's a lot of information here and I would like to
propose looking into having this as a referendum so that the people,
the town citizens can have their direct input into this very important decision.
thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker is ron stoffer. I apologize for getting that wrong, and then brendan sauber and then amanda wiggins.
>> good evening, mayor and council. My name is ron stoffer.
I live and work in southern arizona and much of my work involves thinking about complex,
economic, and infrastructure decisions over long time horizons.
I'm not here to debate the technical merits of this project, others are far better positioned to do that.
what I want to speak to is the kind of decision this is and what it asks of institutions like yours.
[noise] projects of this scale rarely succeed or fail because of any single feature.
they succeed or fail based on whether the institutions responsible can hold a fair,
orderly, fact based process, even in the face of pressure, disagreement, and noise.
that capacity, the ability to deliberate without collapsing into
chaos or theatrics is itself a critical form of infrastructure.
based on the process so far, the town of marana has demonstrated that seriousness,
creating space for public input, maintaining order, and keeping the focus on long term impacts rather than short term reaction that matters,
regardless of how any individual feels about this specific proposal.
my encouragement to you is simply this. Continue to elevate this decision with
the same steadiness and long term lens you've shown so far.
decisions like this shape not just outcomes, but trust in institutions,
and that trust is very hard to rebuild once it is lost.
thank you for the seriousness with which you're approaching this. [applause]
>> the next speaker is brendan sauber, followed by amanda wiggins and then keith watkins.
>> good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and councils.
my name is brendan sauber and I'm in strong support of the marana data center project.
as a generational tucson native who attended school here,
raised a family here, and has two children attending the university of arizona, go-katz [laughter].
my roots run deep in this community. My wife is also a u of a alumni and a middle school teacher.
I'm here tonight to speak up for the future opportunities for this town.
the proposed data center will provide a long term economic strength for marana by generating
substantial tax revenue to help support essential services such as police,
fire protection, roads, and parks, while creating significant employment opportunities
during construction and ongoing operations. The land use for the project is already designated
for future employment and industrial operations. The land use for
the project is already designated for future employment industrial operations.
the land for the project designated currently sits next to 1,000 acre solar farm and gravel facility.
the project location is not expected to significantly increase traffic or excessive noise pollution in surrounding areas.
the project will also help extend critical infrastructure such as sewer and drainage that will support future development.
importantly, this facility is planned as an air cool data center rather
than a traditional water cooled operation as many have already demonstrated.
this approach is expected to reduce water use by approximately 95% compared to its current agricultural use.
this demonstrates responsible planning and clear commitment to the town and surrounding environment.
this data center represents an important opportunity to advance marana through intelligent growth,
a business friendly climate and modern infrastructure that will help position this town for future.
>> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. [applause] next speaker is amanda wiggins,
followed by keith watkins. >> mayor, vice mayor, and town council.
I am so incredibly proud to be raising my beautiful family in this town,
and I'm so honored to serve as the president and ceo of the marana chamber of commerce.
we get to represent 800 businesses that are solopreneurs,
small family owned businesses, and the largest employers in this region.
together, they create a strong business ecosystem,
and that lets us all thrive. We really value that here in marana.
over the past decade, our residents quality of life has exponentially increased.
the median household income has risen by 14%.
several crucial infrastructure projects have been completed from pipes in
the ground to interchange on the interstate and upgrades there as well,
and our community has even prioritized what's next. Our heroes, the public safety, police,
and fire departments have expanded and exceeded all levels of service in our community.
the community has gained a new supermarket, a state of the art recreation center,
and we have a public school systems that's not only growing, it's thriving.
we even opened two new schools this year. That success didn't happen by chance.
that happened because our mayor and council say yes, to growth, they say yes, to economic opportunity,
and they say yes to progress while also
putting the right guard rails in place to protect our residents.
for that leadership, we say sincerely, thank you. With that same appreciation and trust,
we respectfully ask each of you to vote yes for this project on the luckett north and south data center rezoning.
the proposed site near panel air park and existing solar fields is well located,
and it's appropriate for this type of project. Thank you for your service,
your leadership, and your continued commitment to marana. >> thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker is keith watkins, followed by colin millers.
>> good evening, mayor post, council members. My name is keith watkins.
I'm the senior vice president for rural economic development at the arizona commerce authority.
I'm here tonight to express our full support for project luckett and for
marana's leadership in attracting this next generation digital infrastructure to your community.
data centers today are an important part of modern life, as we all know.
they power healthcare, emergency services, cybersecurity systems,
and even small business tools that communities rely on every single day.
in short, data centers are, in fact, critical infrastructure.
just like roads, water, power, and sewer.
this project represents a major opportunity for marana to
secure long term economic value for the community and the region.
over the first ten years, this project is projected to generate $407 million in combined state, county,
and local tax revenue, including $145 million directly to the town of marana.
beyond those revenues, the project brings good paying quality jobs for arizona.
that's what we're all about. Approximately, 4,200 construction jobs will be created over
the next decade along with 400 permanent high quality jobs. The project also includes apprenticeship partnerships and on the job training.
giving local residents tangible pathways to build careers is this growing industry.
importantly, the project has committed to a closed loop cooling technology,
ensuring this facility is built responsibly, sustainably and aligned with the region's long term needs.
this mirrors a national trend where the most advanced data centers are moving forward to next generation low impact cooling solutions.
communities that embrace digital infrastructure are strengthening their tax base,
expanding their workforce opportunities and improving their national competitiveness.
I thank you for your time and consideration of the item before you tonight.
>> thank you very much. [applause]
>> the next speaker is colin millers, followed by dan streeter. >> mr. Mayor, town counsel.
my name is colin millers, and I've been a marana resident for the last six years. I possess a bachelor's of
science and mechanical engineering and a masters of engineering and systems engineering, and in a 20 plus year career,
have experienced in the design, architecture, development, and delivery of large scale complex systems,
including ai technology and healthcare. I attended the december 10 planning meeting that was going
on and was surprised that I hadn't heard much about this before, so I came down to understand what was going on.
and I wanted to better understand this for myself. I appreciate that the overall ordinance in place is a really good first step.
but from a systems engineering perspective, details matter, and there are critical gaps in the requirements that it sets forth that allow
loopholes to be viewed and exploited. Key terms and definitions in the ordinance such as emergency and peak are left undefined.
while they may contain colloquial definitions in engineering context, and very specific applications,
these words have very specific meanings underneath it.
additionally, the town should re examine its current compliance mechanisms.
thousands of dollar of fines per day per violation may significantly
impact businesses and our experience with commercial and residential and industrial customers so far.
companies capitalize in the tens of billions of dollars seen around the country,
view these fines as the cost of doing business. I asked this body to join communities around the country and enact
a moratorium on this project and similar projects. Take the time to consult
independent unbiased experts to answer critical technical questions and refine technical details.
take the time to improve the definition and structure of the ordinance,
drive outreach, engage with the community, and ultimately put this decision to the people.
six people making a decision on a project of this magnitude,
which affects all of us feels wrong. This should be a decision that the entire town.
you've done a lot of work, but we should all make this decision. >> thank you. [applause]
>> next speaker is dan streeter, followed by dr. Tomas diaz de la rubia.
>> good evening. Mayor, members of the council and town staff.
my name is dan streeter, and I am proud to serve this community as the superintendent of the marana unified school district.
I am here tonight to speak in support of the proposed project,
but more importantly, I'm here to speak in support of the leadership of this town.
we are all aware of the narrative surrounding data centers.
these concerns are not unfounded. However, I appreciate the difference in
the diligent marana specific work that is being done here.
I have seen the careful, exhaustive research conducted by our council and our town staff.
I have seen the commitment to our future workforce and the intentional that sets this project apart.
while I do support this project, my primary purpose tonight is to voice my support for each of you.
in a time when public discourse can be difficult, I have consistently witnessed the professionalism displayed by this body.
I appreciate the way that you have considered diverse perspectives
and the unwavering commitment that you show to the town of marana as a whole.
it is clear to me that your decisions are guided by what is best for the next generation,
not just what is easy in the moment. I thank you for your service.
I thank you for your transparency, and I thank you for your dedication to keeping
marana a premier place to live, learn, and work. I trust your process and I trust your leadership. Thank you.
>> thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker is dr. Tomas diaz de la rubia, followed by brittany freeman.
>> good evening, mayor post, vice mayor ziegler, council members.
thank you, for the opportunity to be here. My name is tomas diaz de la rubia.
I'm the senior vice president for research and partnerships at the university of arizona.
at the university of arizona, we're using and artificial intelligence to
train the next generation of citizens and leaders for the n. We're using this to address challenges that matter to arizonans.
to lead this work, we need to have the systems and
the infrastructure that power the innovations of the future. The data center industry represents
today a significant infrastructure investment globally, which is expected to reach close to $1 billion by 2030 around the world.
the multiple effect of a single new data center on local communities as we heard today is tremendous.
the economic impact in strengthening the local tax base and attracting
complementary innovation ecosystems is what the future is about.
those are amazing outcromes. But I believe that the chance to make southern arizona a hub of
high tech innovation is one of the most exciting opportunities that we create by building data centers here.
at the university of arizona, we launch about 15 new start up companies a year with
innovations and intellectual property that come out of our students and our faculty.
since 2017, we have created about $1.6 billion in
economic output from the commercialization of the technologies that we develop at the university.
today, and in the future, those technologies are increasingly based on data and artificial intelligence.
at the university, where one of a handful of universities in the nation that has
a chief artificial intelligence and data science officer that is driving the effort to
bring responsible uses of data and artificial intelligence to our students and our researchers.
in addition to the start ups, we have research initiatives center on ai that as I said before, benefit arizonans.
today, data infrastructure is no longer optional, it is foundational.
it's where we attract the future investors and the venture capital and the high tech companies to the region here. Thank you.
>> thank you very much. [applause]
>> the next speaker is brittany freeman, followed by chuck allman.
>> good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council members, and fellow community members.
my name is brittany freeman. I'm a tech student and property owner here in marana, as well as a homeowner and resident in tucson.
the decisions made here tonight affect all of us in the greater tucson region,
and we share the same aquifer, same power grid and fragile desert environment.
I'm here to respectfully urge you to deny the rezoning applications
for the proposed 600 acre locket road north and south data center campus.
this project may promise thousands of temporary construction jobs, but tucson already has a stable construction workforce of over 20,000 jobs,
and our overall employment growth has been flat or declining in recent years. We don't need a short term spike in
construction activity that disappears once the buildings are up. Those temporary jobs come at a permanent cost.
massive strain on our limited water and energy resources. It's important to understand that the use of the air
cooling at the data center will not eliminate the water problem. It will only shift the burden upstream.
these facilities demand enormous electricity around the clock, and much of that energy comes from
power plants that use large amount of water for cooling. With indirect usage, the data center would potentially consume
over 60% more water overall than the current farm land,
not 95 or 98% less as bill claims. This massive power consumption also drives up demand on our grid.
potentially leading to higher electricity rates for residents and families who already struggle to pay more during our hottest months.
additionally, replacing active farm land with this industrial use risk polluting
surrounding fields through dust and runoff during construction and generator emissions after.
rezoning would permanently convert this farmland to industrial use, and irreversible loss in
a region already seeing precious ag land disappear to development.
please listen to the voices here tonight and across the region. Deny this rezoning to protect our shared resources and keep
energy affordable and prioritize truly sustainable growth here in marana.
thank you for your time and consideration. >> thank you. [applause].
>> [noise] next is chuck allman, followed by michael gyman.
>> good evening, mayor, vice mayor. Council. Really excited to be here tonight.
ben really digging into this thing. Tonight was really interesting to listen to all the different sides of it,
did not change the way I feel, and I think the way my kids feel about being here in marana, my name is chuck allman.
I have a copier company here. We've had it for 25 years in marana.
that's a long time for business to be here. We're excited about the opportunity for marana to grow.
our kids can stay here. More importantly, my grandkids can stay here.
but with that, the way that we're growing now,
we're going to lose to phoenix all the time and we're seeing it daily in tucson.
tucson is getting taken over by phoenix. You've got to do is look around. You see it.
more six oh two numbers running around than there is 520. I'm hoping that this goes.
I'm hoping that this works out for all of us. Thank you guys for the opportunity.
I hope we all do the right thing. [applause]
>> the next speaker is michael gyman followed by david morals. >> mayor post, vice mayor ziegler, non town council.
my name is michael gyman. I'm with the chamber of southern arizona and speaking in favor of the locket road project.
I've worked in economic development for many years and worked on a lot of projects.
actually, none of those projects have done what this project has done,
and that has taken zero local incentives, which could include county incentives.
in fact, they're doing the opposite. They are paying into the system for
infrastructure improvements and deeding some of that back to the city. Additionally, you have set yourself up for
success by passing and adopting the data center ordinance.
this is a very important step, the first step in this region, as was stated earlier,
this follows the ordinance 100%.
say yes to thousands of new jobs in this region,
most of those construction jobs, which will stay local as opposed to leaving this region to find work elsewhere.
say yes to economic development and the largest capital investment in southern arizona's history.
a recent report that was alluded to earlier, states that this region is dipping into negative economic growth territory.
jurisdictions need to say yes to these projects more than saying no.
and say yes to the new tax revenue that will be generated by this project,
millions of dollars annually, that will be used to bolster the already great services that this council provides.
follow the recommendation from the unanimous recommendation from
the planning commission and vote in favor of the luca road project. Thank you.
>> thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker is david morals, followed by ted maxwell, and then robert nil.
>> david? What happened? >> yes, I'm okay. This morning at 9:00,
I went to the va hospital and I had a eye operation on my right eye.
I went in at 9:00 and it was released at 12:00.
the reason I'm here this is too big to stay home.
marana has two big big items that has saved the town.
the first one is tax value. Now you got to remember in 1990 the town didn't have this revenue,
didn't have the people, and the only thing that was going to save it was we hit to
have tax value in our city limits or town limits should I
say the town when I became a council member was the only 11 square miles.
I was a council member from '87-'91, and the council wanted to increase the tax,
make a property tax, and I told him it's not going to work.
anyway, what happened was the console went ahead
and put it on the ballot and went down 85-15, no vote.
don't even try to put a property tax. I'm telling you what will happen, 85-15.
in the process, they told me, david,
you were the one that this thing failed,
so come up with something different. I figured tax value, ina road,
orange grove, dale that area is nothing but business, sales tax.
that's what I wanted. What happened was I ran out of time.
my council expired. But the town when I left,
I said, I don't have no more time,
but I need for you guys to vote for tax valley. They voted for tax valley,
and here we are. If eddie honey was here,
if mahorn was here, they would tell you that's what saved the town tax valley.
prior to that, the only tax we had was mcdonald's.
you can imagine, as far
as threats of recall, anything else?
all I can tell you is cano ranch was the first thing that went on the ballot. It passed.
the council of 87-91,
we told the town marana is growing and it is going to stay growing.
I hope you do the right thing and vote for this thing because we need the jobs.
>> thank you, david. >> thank you.[applause]
>> the next speaker is ted maxwell, followed by robert nil, and then cesar corral.
>> general maxwell, welcome. Mayor [inaudible].
>> vice mayor ziegler, members of the council. Thank you for this opportunity. I'm ted maxwell, the president and ceo of the southern arizona leadership council.
I represent more than 150 ceos and business leaders from this region.
I'm here tonight to advocate for your approval. Now, some people hear the word data centers,
and they think it's just a building full of servers. But that's not what we're talking about tonight.
we're talking about the backbone of the modern economy. Every industry, whether it's healthcare,
or hospitals, aerospace, logistics, education. Yes, even our small local businesses rely on having
an efficient digital infrastructure and secure digital infrastructure to operate as do we.
many of, if not all of us in this room, depend on data centers.
for our connections to our cell phones, with our computers, to the internet,
our vehicles, both gas and electric, all rely on that connectivity with data centers for everything we do.
when we welcome responsible data center investment, and you have taken every step possible to make a responsible decision tonight.
we are positioned marana at the center of that economic engine.
in a fast changing world, strong digital infrastructure is not a luxury,
it's a necessity, and that includes on national security issues.
we need it in our country and we need it close to where we are at times.
data centers bring high quality well paying jobs. You've heard all that. But the benefits are much farther reaching than a single project or a data center.
your approval tonight will send a powerful message to other employers.
marana is open for business. We're ready to innovate,
and we are prepared to build a stable economic future for our community.
tonight, I'm asking you just thank bigger to thank long term. Choose progress, choose a stronger future
and choose prosperity for marana and the region. Thank you. >> thank you.[applause]
>> the next speaker is robert nil, followed by cesar corral, and then susan dumont.
>> good evening mayor, vice mayor, and council members.
I'm from the area, and I've been aware of this project and I wanted to become a
little more educated on it this evening and you've done that. You've really opened my eyes and confirmed
what I put in a letter to the mayor's office earlier this week.
I'd like to read some from it, if I may. Marana has been run by a forward thinking group of
competent people with an eye to expansion in the future.
this proposed data center will make future expansion possible for marana,
along with creating jobs and bringing in a consistent revenue flow.
I'm currently a resident of tucson and have been for some time.
I've watched marana expand and grow with the residents being cared for by the local government.
I've lived through tucson's fumbling and tripping over
themselves in almost everything they directly try to do.
my wife and I have owned a business in tucson and have sold it.
we have decided that we would like to move to the marana area from what we see being done for its future.
the expansion of our business plan and becoming involved in progress of the city.
the data center are essentially to daily life by power and healthcare,
public, safety, communications, ecommerce, and digital systems that keep businesses competitive and families connected.
we've heard that over and over tonight, but it is the basics.
your forward thinking, please be smart in approving this project.
approving this project, puts marana in a position to capture all of the noted benefits while
protecting your community resources and bringing long term tax revenue that will help fund schools,
police, fire, roads, and your outstanding parks.
>> thank you very much, sir. Appreciate that. Thank you.[applause] >> the next speaker is cesar corral,
followed by susan dumont. >> good evening, mayor post,
vice mayor ziegler, and honorable members of the council. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight.
my name is cesar corral with the western states carpenters local 1912, and I'm here in strong support of item a2.
I want to start with the recommended referendum by a previous speaker. Here's a problem with that.
when we build houses, we don't ask for the credit. The real estate developer can have that.
when we build the schools, your children, and some of you still attend, we don't ask for credit.
when we make the hospitals, we take our loved ones to. We don't ask for credit.
we don't ask to be seen or for any of acknowledgment, let alone anything at all.
there's a reason for this in my opinion. I think that's because as workers, we need nothing more than to get what we earned and come back to our families.
this is why I'm up here right now.
after hearing from the utilities that our rates would not increase,
and finding an opportunity here at home, I jumped at the chance to spend the holidays with my nana again.
it's sad but true, that here we are again in big colorful vests and still very few people see us.
I wish the opposition did not forget about people like me who have a real benefit from projects like this,
rather than remembering campaign finances that are irrelevant. I'm not here to have a punch line in a big applause.
I'm here because my life actually depends on this. I'm sure those of you with members of
your family in the military can relate to the empty feeling of seeing that seat empty at the thanksgiving table or christmas or birthdays.
that seat unfortunately at my family table is mine. Project outside of our local area is unfortunately the normal for us.
that means time away from our families, long commutes, and instability that most people never have to even think about.
it should never mean I don't have to choose between providing for my family and being there for them.
I respectfully urge you to support item a2. I thank you for your time and for considering the voices
of local workers like myself.[applause]
>> the next speaker is susan dumont, followed by sean blubaum.
>> good evening, vice mayor, members of the council.
that was tough to follow. But I'll do my best.
my name is susan dumont. I'm the chief economic development officer for the chamber of southern arizona,
and I'm here today on behalf of myself, our board of directors,
and our 1,400 members to express support for this project.
as someone working in economic development, I'm inclined to highlight the capital investment,
the new jobs created, repeat the economic and fiscal impacts on
the town of marana and really the entire region. That's where we tend to go.
I do hang on to that 145 million in
projected revenue for the town over the first 10 years of the project.
I think numbers like that are tough. What kind of revenue does that really mean for
the town of marana and its residents and businesses? It's a big number.
I don't know what $145 million looks like. Maybe some of you do, but I don't think so.
I tried to break that down into what could be funded with
those tax revenues for one year in the town of morana based on your fiscal year '26 budget?
one year of tax revenue from this project would nearly
fund the entire parks and recreation department for fiscal year '26.
alternatively, one year of tax revenue could be used to fund more than 60% of the police department budget.
that's about 100 police officers. As someone who previously worked for local government,
I know that the services residents expect, such as great parks and a responsive police department don't pay for themselves.
primarily, they're funded through tax revenues generated by businesses,
residents, and visitors in this community. As elected leaders of this community,
you must be thoughtful and pragmatic in your decision making, weighing the pros and cons of the decisions you make on behalf of your constituents.
the benefits of this project are significant and they far outweigh the potential negative impacts.
encourage you to support this project and vote, yes. >> thank you.[applause]
>> the next speaker is sean blubaum, followed by albert via pando.
>> thanks. Good evening, mayor post, vice mayor ziegler, and council members.
my name is sean blubaum. I am a construction industry professional, and I've been a business leader here in arizona for 25 years.
I'm here tonight to voice my strong support for the proposed lat road data center project.
from a construction standpoint, you've heard it from a lot of people. This project represents exactly the kind of
long term responsible development our local workforce needs.
the data center is projected to generate thousands of construction jobs for the next 5-10 years,
including opportunities for skilled trades, apprenticeships, on on the job training.
in our industry, projects of this scale provide steady career sustaining work.
for those that talk about construction jobs is temporary,
I'm someone I don't have to travel anymore, but I traveled for several years while my kids were little, and I was not there.
it was because there wasn't local work. As someone who's done that 4,000 plus jobs for 5-10 years,
that's life changing for our local workforce. This development also brings
significant infrastructure construction that benefits our whole region. Water and sewer extensions, road improvements,
including the lockett road extension and regional drainage improvements. These investments, open doors for future employment and industrial growth
while strengthening marana's overall construction and infrastructure capacity.
just as important, it's been thoughtfully planned. Why create zoning requirements and then check
all the boxes and then question if it should be allowed.
isn't that the point of having the requirements? It's located in an area already designated for industrial use.
it minimizes traffic once operational and complies with marana's ordinance.
data centers are an integral part of the modern economy. They fuel essential industries.. Every business uses it.
we all use computers. We all use phones. They're part of our modern economy,
whether we want them there or not. They're essential now and in the future. For those of us in construction,
it's stable work, allowing our families to live and work in marana.
I encourage you to please vote yes and allow marana to continue to build our future the right way. Thank you.
>> thank you.[applause]
>> the next speaker is albert via pando, and then michelle mccarthy.
>> mayor, council members. Thank you for the chance of letting me speak here today.
my name is albert via pando, I'm a proud member of local 359.
here today in strong support of bill infrastructure data center project because for working families like ours,
projects like this are about more than development and their jobs,
stability, stay employed, here at home. We want to focus a little bit about being at home. I don't know how to follow ups.
that was really good, but some of these other folks are bringing up about the local members working here at home,
85-90% of our local members with local 359 are working in the valley.
that's 2-3 hour drive time one way, working 10, 12 hour days and then doing the same commute back. That's long.
that's 14-16 hour days on the road and at work and away from your families.
the other 10-15% are either not working or working at a state.
we need this project here in marana. We need this project here in southern arizona,
and I hope you approve this. Thank you. >> thank you.[applause]
>> the next speaker is michelle mccarthy, followed by fernando lebron and brian pena.
>> well, mr. Mayor, vice mayor. Town council. Thank you for having me speak.
I am in whole percent for this project.
we are a big city here in tucson and surrounding neighborhoods.
but there is no work. There's no union work. I've been a union sheet metal worker for over 12 years.
my husband 30 plus years, one of my sons just started,
but we have to travel over two hours each way. I got up at two o'clock this morning,
so forgive me if I'm all tired. But to get to work by five.
anyway, I really want this here.
I believe we deserve to have viable jobs here. There's nothing.
there's no work.
let's see. I have 107. Anyway, I know what it's like everywhere else.
I've looked into different things. I thought because I wanted to stay by my family.
I wanted to stay my elderly dad. I wanted to help him out more and I wanted to stay here,
and I still do. But I mean, I looked at other jobs,
and I actually worked outside my field for a year working two jobs to try to make ends meet,
and it didn't cover. I just did it. I saw what it's like everywhere.
I have other experience working on diesel mechanics, air boeing airplanes.
I have a lot of skills that I could have gone to, but there's just no money.
it boils down to money. We need some money here.
we need family members to have jobs to go to. I need to have my time with my family,
and to work and, make money. Anyway, that's all I have to say. Thank you. >> thank you. [applause]
>> next speaker is fernando lebron. Followed by brian pena.
>> good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is fernando lebron.
I'm a proud member of smart sheet metal air railroad, and transportation workers.
I'm here tonight in the strong support of the a2 infrastructure data center project.
for workers like me, projects like this means keeping good family, supporting jobs right here in arizona when major infrastructure projects move forward,
we can work close to home instead of traveling out of state just to stay employed.
that stability matters to our families, our communities, our local economy.
data centers are complex facilities that required trained workers to be built safely and correctly.
smart members play a critical role from advanced air and ventilation systems to
precise installation that keeps these facilities operating efficiently and reliable.
this high technical work that depends on training, experience, and accountability.
projects like a2 data center also help grow the next generation of skilled workers by
creating opportunities for apprentices and young people to build long-term careers here in arizona.
when our members are working, the benefits extend beyond the job site. We support local businesses,
contribute to tax revenue, and stay invested in the communities where we live.
the a2 infrastructure data center represents responsible development that supports skilled labor and long term economic growth.
for these reasons, I respectfully urge your support. Thank you for your time this evening and consideration.
[applause]
>> the next speaker is brian pena, followed by cody mcguire. >> good evening major,
council members and stuff. My name is brian pena.
I'm a proud member of the painters and allied traits, and on behalf of a membership here in arizona,
strong support for the proposed data center.
while we acknowledge the valid concerns raised by the members of our community regarding the water and energy consumption,
I believe that project with it mitigation measures represent
a significant opportunity for economic growth and technological advancement here in arizona,
especially here in marana. Smart and responsible development consists of hiring locally,
including our construction traits, men and women that are
often left behind and neglected when building anything in this region.
bio has assured us that there will be a strong safety standards on this project with local hire.
let's keep our working families together and coming home every night.
we strongly and humbly urge you to move forward with this project.
thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker is cody mcguire, followed by shan lopez.
>> good evening, mayor, vice mayor and council members. Thank you very much for your time and your passion part of this project,
and also listening to your constituents. My name is cody mcguire. I'm a resident property owner of marana,
bought back in 2005. I'm a supporter of the data center in marana.
especially a factor I look at is the right location. We look at marana has mass territory you guys have,
putting up to where industrial use area is key. Next to airpark, mining,
cemetery, and also solar. I think it's the right area, and you look at it versus anywhere else you could put in marana.
looking at the investment you make that's going to be new making what we will actually receive for this town for jobs.
thank you to contract workers. My dad was constructional workers. I know what it's like.
thank you. I appreciate all that.
the overall, I understand there's parts of water that's reducing it, looking at the air cooling.
I look forward to seeing all the actual ramification, what it actually does and actually,
the success that comes from that. Overall, the proposal project provides
an opportunity for marana to distinguish itself as open for business in southern arizona and a chance for marana to
lead the region instruction reliability digital instructure. The thing I want to say is,
I wish I love you guys have put the piece at the very beginning to make for data centers,
wish or valley, city of tucson, we actually do these same things and be proactive versus always in the back end,
and it always screws ourselves. Thank you very much for putting that time in and putting at the very beginning to help move forward.
you actually have a company who actually wants to check the boxes for a change versus trying to skate around them or getting incentives.
thank you thank you much for time. [applause]
>> the next speaker shan lopez, followed by jonathan daley.
>> good evening, mayor, vice mayor and council. Thank you for your time. My name is shan lopez.
I'm a local business representative for lona local 1184; we're laborers.
we do a heavy civil underground steward storm drain. We build your roads and bridges.
I'm just a representative of 2,000 members we have here in arizona. About half of those are in southern arizona.
like my colleague said, we all travel for work. We don't get the luxury of staying home for holidays and things like that.
a lot of times we're on call. But one thing I want to touch on is this jobs aspect.
it's a little condescending, no offense to anybody, but they're not really jobs.
people think construction workers it's just a job. It's actually a career.
it's my job to make sure I can string these short-term projects together to create a career for my members.
this is four years, possibly eight or longer. This is something that'll add 4-8 years of pension credits.
o union labors, for all the unions, we provide medical, dental, vision,
prescription, pensions, annuities, vacation bonuses for all of our members.
it's not just a job. You're actually helping create careers here. On top of that, I recruit.
I'm a headhunter as well. I will work with the schools. Our apprenticeship program will come down here.
we'll go to all your job fairs, and we'll hire locally. We'll hire straight out of high school,
get them in our apprenticeship and within two years, they'll be making over $30 an hour with full benefits,
being able to have kids and create families locally and marana, and help marana grow.
thank you so much for your support, and I ask that you support this project. [applause]
>> the next speaker is jonathan daley, followed by rebecca kozlowski.
>> good evening. My name is jonathan daley. I was really hoping I wasn't going to follow shawn.
but I'm also a member of local 1184 labors union.
I'll go more personal note since he hit it all right on the head.
our members consist of veterans, second chancellors, kids coming out of foster care,
you name it, husband, wives, their fathers, mothers.
me myself, I'm a marine corps veteran. I'm also a husband,
and I'm a father to a 2-year-old boy and soon to be baby girl.
those are the reasons I'm here tonight, so that I can be home every night with them.
they want me home every night. They remind me every day, maybe not so much during football season,
but starting now, probably a lot more. With that, this gives our membership on-the-job experience that's needed,
just not the apprenticeship school and sitting and reading a book. It's not usually how we operate.
it's usually the on-the-job experience that we benefit from. It gives us that opportunity,
and to provide I was able to just buy my family a house and provide them with healthcare,
food on the table, and we never have to question it. With that, we ask you please approve this.
thank you. [applause]
>> rebecca, I'm sorry if I'm saying your name wrong rebecca. >> you did remarkably well.
>> all right. Followed by fred barnett. >> thank you. Mr. Mayor,
vice mayor, council. I'm rebecca kozlowski.
I lived just outside marana line near the amazon property,
but I have worked in marana since 2010. My son graduated from musd,
so I have some heart here in marana. I grew up in lake erie,
where as a child, we could not swim in the water as it was too polluted.
a nearby river famously caught on fire.
these circumstances started my lifelong journey as an environmentalist.
as a owner of multiple small businesses,
I learned to study the fine line skeptically in contracts and agreements
and do my due diligence to fully understand the impact I and my businesses have had on my community.
you may assume that this means that I'm against this project; on the contrary.
after my in-depth reading of the specific town ordinance for data centers,
I am convinced that the town has created a thoughtful and community-friendly plan.
this plan covers air-cooled, not water-cooled, regulations,
strong restrictions on noise, locations far from residential areas,
requirements for the project to play upfront for the investments for power to avoid passing rate increases onto residents,
workforce development, and more. I urge marana residents to take the time to study
the ordinance and these plants and not fall prey to the plethora of
misinformation spread by many who are not near our community and will not
feel and enjoy the positive impact this project will bring to our kids and grandkids,
and the enhancements for our roads, infrastructure, and for smart growth in marana.
I fully support this council's positive decision on this look at project.
[applause]
>> on next speaker is fred barnett, followed by drew jenkins, and then courtney hoyt.
>> hello, mr. Mayor. >> hey, fred. [laughter] >> I have to remember this,
all these strenuous members. Marana was founded in '77 with one purpose in mind: to take care of our water.
that's what it was all about.
as time went on, the town wasn't really flourishing.
pickles hit on it earlier. We went out, and we got some more land. We annexed property.
the town has grown and grown and grown because we now have revenue.
I think if we don't take advantage of this,
it could be the wrong move. We have no property tax in marana,
and I would think a move like this should ensure that we have no property tax in marana for years to come.
that would be my take on it,
and I'm all for it.
I don't know a whole lot about everything.
everybody seems to be concerned about how much water these data centers take. I don't know.
seems like to me that they ought to be a system like a car with a radiator,
and you cool it, and then you put it back in the motor.
I think if somebody paid me enough money,
I could figure that system out. [laughter]
>> thank you. [applause] but you guys heard it,
right, fred, right there. In case you need him. [background]
>> the next speaker is drew jenkins, followed by courtney hoyt.
>> mayor, vice mayor, counsel. My name is drew jenkins,
and I'm an internet user. I'm certainly not alone in this.
I got a couple of statistics here that tells me 96% of all adults in the united states access the internet regularly.
89.4% of households in arizona have an internet subscription,
and 95.7% of households specifically in marana have an internet subscription.
in 2018, it was reported the average adult spends a little over 6 hours a day every single day engaging with digital media,
and that has since grown to just under 7 hours every single day in 2024.
we use smart watches, to exercise, apps to communicate, online maps, to get around.
I use digital cameras to watch my babies, my dogs, and my front door.
this is just what we use as individuals, you heard previously,
how much our commercial businesses and community use internet as well.
our digital consumption, and online connectedness has continued to grow year after year,
where it has become an integral part of our life. Given the growth of our technological consumption and our reliance on it,
it does not surprise me that companies are wanting to build data centers in southern arizona to support our habitual use.
what we have here is a problem of irony, where some are saying that we don't want data centers down here,
yet they are critical infrastructure to sustain our lifestyle of technological consumption.
we've seen the videos, and read the articles about the impacts of data centers.
if these projects go somewhere else in arizona, it'll use the same energy,
and water resources that we use here. Provided that a data center is going to be built in southern arizona
as they told us and has become essential to our way of living. I would argue that we have a responsibility as residents to build a data center
in our community where we can properly oversee the accountability,
transparency, and resource management of this project, and directly benefit from all of the positive financial aspects,
and construction jobs that the project provides us. Thank you. >> thank you. [applause]
>> next speaker is courtney hoyt, followed by tommy bingham.
>> excuse me, my voice sucks today, so just bear with me.
good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and council members. My name is courtney, and I live here in marana.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you guys tonight. I'm here because construction jobs and responsible development matter for our town.
when projects move forward here, they put local trades to work. Those are solid careers that support families and keep folks working close to home.
responsible development paves the path for future growth in our community.
puny, but true. When that work happens here,
money is spent at marana businesses, gas stations, restaurants, grocery stores.
that local spending brings in tax dollars that helps pay for things we all care about like roads,
public safety, and keeping up with growth without putting it all on existing residents.
I know every project deserves a careful look and I respect that you've taken the time to do so and appreciate it.
I hope you consider that responsible development can mean steady jobs, more local spending,
and a stronger tax base, all while keeping marana a place where people are proud to live and work.
thank you for your time and consideration of this project. >> thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker is tommy bingham, followed by briana rader.
is tommy here. Okay. Briana. [background]
>> mayor, vice mayor and council members. I'm a fifth generation, southern arizona,
a mount view high school graduate, and my family has called marana home since returning back to the area in 2014.
I pulled some demographic data, and those in the area are actually around 37-years-old.
I represent those closely impacted by this project.
I'm pretty sure many of which in my generation couldn't make it tonight, shuttling kids, and putting kids to bed tonight,
but here I am thanks to mom. I support this project.
I believe it'll benefit our community for generations. Here's a few of the benefits that matter to me.
economic growth and stability. We've watched nearby jurisdictions. Continue to say no.
the novo came from the loud minority. As a result, these jurisdictions have had to react to essentially a dying economy.
we've seen additional sales tax proposals, and the like.
let's keep marana economically strong. Jobs, I had to leave town after graduating from mva.
jobs weren't secure, they didn't pay enough. This project will create the jobs to help retain talent in our region.
further, I work in an industry that depends on job growth.
many have said it today. Jobs are vital for a strong economy.
community perception. Marana has the opportunity tonight to set
a positive example for smart sustainable development in southern arizona. Many of us recall some recent no votes that made national headlines.
let's get marana on the map. Let's showcase. We can make smart growth decisions.
I've witnessed firsthand, many of you make some really tough decisions right here.
thoughtful council action has brightened our community's growth, and vitality.
over the last few decades, this isn't just about this one decision. It's all the decisions that have led up to today.
please let us not forget that tonight. A yes vote tonight is a vote for marana's future,
one that embraces smart growth, a strong local economy, innovation, and opportunity for all residents.
thank you for supporting the future of marana. >> thank you. [applause]
>> our next speaker is lloyd kirsch. Sorry, lloyd, I did not give you heads up.
after lloyd is michael vasquez, and then derek espadas.
>> good evening, mayor post. Vice mayor ziegler.
town officials and town council. My name is lloyd kirsch.
I've been a resident in marana for over 11 years.
I volunteered to the community through my participation on the tourism task force,
the town restaurant task force, the marana unified school district business alliance steering committee,
and as a certified tourism ambassador from marana.
I appreciate addressing you today regarding a proposal to approve an ai data center,
one that has enormous economic benefits from marana, and its residents,
but also presents major resident concerns, and apprehension about potential property devaluation,
the strain on local resources, and the reputational harm to our nascent tourism marketing plans.
there were also several unresolved issues that demand your attention.
beetle and blue owl capital, its parent,
and the data center developer's track record,
lack of transparency, and legal exposure highlights the potential for litigation,
and protracted legal disputes. Should this project proceed?
blue owl capital value in 2025 decreased 33%.
they have liquidity issues. I believe that further due diligence should be conducted.
marana town council and staff are to be commended for developing an ordinance regulating data centers.
however, approving this data center in the absence of
clear robust regulations regarding end of life responsibilities,
funding, and planning would be premature, and potentially detrimental to marana's long term interests,
given the uncertainty of federal intervention,
and end of flight funding for the conversion of this total project.
as the life cycle of the ai data center is 15 to 25 years.
this council must have the wisdom, and courage to choose a future course set
its citizens can live with over generations without
the potential for technological obsolescence that leave
communities with abandoned difficult to repurpose buildings.
in conclusion, the decision before you
is not merely about approving a construction project.
it's about safeguarding the future of marana.
I urge you to listen to the concerns of your constituents,
and act with the prudence, and foresight that marana,
and its future generations deserve. For all these reasons,
I respectfully urge the council to vote against
the approval of the ai data center unless an extensive end of
life addition to the data center regulations in
much greater detail than the one displayed earlier can be to fill up and approved by this council.
thank you for your concern. >> thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker is michael vasquez, followed by derek espadas.
>> mayor, vice mayor, council and staff.
my name is michael vasquez. I'm the executive director of the arizona bill and trades council.
arizona bill and trades construction trades council consists of 14 different trades,
and also has over 22 members, which we have some of the members here tonight.
our members are able to train arizona's future workforce, and our national recognized privately funded apprenticeship programs,
but we only accept as many apprentices as we can guarantee not only a job but a career.
if the rezones for the council actions 2 and 3 are approved.
this project alone will show our contractors that we must invest now in growing our workforce at marana.
that would mean creating new high paying jobs with benefits right here in marana.
it means we can start training the next generation of construction workers.
marana can continue to attract projects to the area that will create opportunities for our members to stay close to home.
we ask that you please approve the rezoning,
and help us create 4,200 new high paying jobs.
thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker is derek espadas followed by nick maya.
>> hello. My name is derek espadas. I'm an accountant, entrepreneur, educator,
doctoral candidate in business and a candidate for the arizona corporation commission.
I cannot speak to the trico statements, but I can address the tep statements.
they are currently in their rate case, not only seeking a 14% increase,
that conveniently happened the same day that project blue, the lens of project blue occurred.
but on the back end of that rate case, there is a proposal for them to bypass the acc in future rate cases,
and have an automatic increase. Now, what does that have to do with data centers?
if you look at their 10k and their 8k's for the last couple of years,
they specifically say that they are going to make up for what they perceive to
be a drop in profits because they're only making $330 million in profit.
a 33% increase over the last three years? They specifically outlined that they are seeking large scale data center increases,
and to pass on the costs and gain the profits in the future.
again, in their 10k and 8k's. Who are they lying to?
are they lying to you, us, are they lying to the securities and exchange commission, and their investors?
data is just erroneous when we're talking about data centers.
data centers don't provide data about their data centers. Everything is made up,
and it just happens to be beale's favor. Approving the project would also lock up finite community assets.
once you approve this, there's no growth in any other area. You've locked up the maximum capacity that we've talked about as far as energy,
and those energy supplies are not guaranteed.
even commissioner walden on the acc points out that the business structure that is
being presented to arizona data centers is not the same that we get everywhere else.
I do also want to bring up that I know it's legal, but I find that the connection between
the vice mayor and lazarus and silvan to be unethical,
along with the cheer leading, and the testifying for them as well in this case,
and I do endorse the referendum so that the people can decide on this matter.
thank you. [applause] >> yes, mayor. [background]
>> excuse me, sir. I'm going to encourage you to read title 16 campaign finding.
>> I have a different title. >> I'm not going to argue with you. I'm not going to argue with you.
I encourage you to read title. >> I have title 16, and I'm applying the ethical component that's not in there.
ethics and legality are two separate issues. I would also say there's a lack of professionalism by the vice mayor.
providing unsolicited comments on social media at three in the morning.
it becomes very hard to take you seriously when there's
actions equating to teenage behavior in the middle of the night.
>> I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer. Mayor, please.
I'd like to it doesn't matter what time I do my I don't know why that's your concern.
but again, I've been in this community for 20 years. I'm not going to take those comments from you.
>> you're addressing them. You are taking them. I encourage you to move on.
may I be excused from this? >> get the hell out. That's a good idea.
>> that was not appropriate. >> thank you, sir. >> do you want to continue and then I'd be fine. Let's continue.
>> that sounded like a threat. >> it's not getting better. It's getting worse.
>> that's not a threat sir. >> thank you, mary. Thank you. >> the next speaker is nick maya,
followed by jason sangster. >> I'm not sure how I'm going to follow that,
but I still feeling like mr. Relevant here, nfl draft fans.
but good evening, mayor post vice mayor ziegler and council members.
my name is nick maya, and I'm speaking on behalf of the coalition for sonoran desert protection.
the coalition represents 28 national and regional organizations across southern arizona,
including members in marana. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight.
hopefully, able to read the letter that we sent you all last week.
the coalition recognizes the time and effort the town,
the council members and staff have put into reviewing these applications.
with that said, we respectfully urge that the council delay tonight's vote to
allow more time to strengthen the conditions of approval and better protect the town, its residents.
maranas long term financial and planning interests.
in particular, we're concerned that while we appreciate the new condition without binding financial assurance,
marana still risks incurring costs if these projects fail.
air cool data centers use two to 5% excuse me,
2-5 times more electricity, and it's unclear whether trico or tp can responsibly serve this load.
even with limited onsite water use, the added power demand drives significant regional water impacts that are not addressed.
marana has an opportunity to reduce these risks rather than absorb them.
pima county's net zero energy memorandum of agreement with beal infrastructure offers a practical model that could protect grid reliability,
stabilize costs, and reduce water impacts. Thank you for your consideration and continued service to marana.
we respectfully request that this vote be continued to allow further review of the conditions of approval for this project. Thank you.
>> the next speaker is jason sangster, followed by michael beltran.
>> good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council. My name is jason sangster.
I'm the business manager for iron workers local 75 in arizona. Ironworker local 75 and have been billing arizona since july 10, 1910.
we have a training facility here in tucson, arizona, right here to south of us and a union hall down there also.
I'm here today to ask you to please approve the rezoning action for a a two and a three.
if rezoning is approved, this project will result in over 4,200 jobs in marana.
that'll mean that southern arizona members, our southern arizona members will be able to
work close to home and don't have to travel for work. They can be home with their families for dinner,
they can spend time with their friends and their relatives here in town.
creating 4,200 new jobs will make sure that marana has a highly skilled workforce necessary to complete future projects on time and on budget.
I would thank you for your time and ask if you please approve this project.
thank you. [applause]
>> next speaker is michael beltran, followed by adam rodriguez.
is michael in the room? No. Adam rodriguez.
the next speaker after that will be kevin anderson.
>> good evening, morena leadership. My name is adam, I came here neutral tonight as out of pure curiosity,
and just to see what I could take in from the comments from both sides while,
I can't argue at all against a substantial financial gain, of course.
two things that came up are the size of this project
seems tremendous in that it would take up a lot of economic space, it feels like and the complexity,
the unknowns about it. It seems like there's a lot we don't know from
individually concerned members of our community that seem to have a good understanding of what it is that we're talking about.
those things make me arrive to the conclusion of not necessarily supporting the data center at the moment,
but I would strongly support or I would appreciate it if you all
considered the referendum or perhaps moratorium on the vote,
so we could understand more about the implications of the system. I didn't have much else to say. Thank you.
>> thank you. [applause]
>> michael. The next speaker is kevin anderson, followed by second alizad. Sorry.
>> mayor, vice mayor, council members. Thanks for letting me speak tonight.
please don't tell my surgeon that I use one crutch right now.
my name is kevin anderson. I grew up in marana. I've lived here for over 25 years.
over the past six years, I've owned and operated business here locally.
I've been able to see marana grow, I mean, start as a small town in my eyes and grow into
a very well thought out planned out town for the future.
for me, it's important to see which direction the town decides to go.
as a business owner, one thing becomes very clear very quickly,
generating meaningful revenue without imposing higher taxes on the residents is extremely difficult.
that's why I stand here before you in strong support of
the proposed data center with roughly $414.5 million per year in tax revenue,
and thousands of construction jobs. This impact is real.
without a project like this, it would take a ton of population growth,
and higher taxes to generate nearly the same type of revenue.
there is no fast or painless alternative. Residential growth takes years to become profitable and brings added costs,
schools, roads, police, fire, traffic.
this project, it actually avoids all of that. From a business standpoint,
data centers provide something municipalities rarely get stable,
predictable, long term revenue. They don't strain schools.
they don't create traffic congestion, yet they fund services everybody else relies on.
it's important this project is being done the right way. The council has listened to concerns of the community residents and
also educated us about the information of this project. Thank you.
the applicant is willing to comply with all the town ordinances around noise,
cooling, and bearing their usage costs. Thank you. As someone who grew up here,
build a business here and plans to stay here for the future. I see this as smart growth.
growth that strengthens marana's future without shifting the financial burden onto us.
opportunities like this don't come often, and they're even rarer when they come to this level of planning,
protection, and long term benefit. Thank you. >> thank you. [applause]
>> I'm going to let you pronounce your name, so I don't. Next step will be carol clement.
>> good evening, mayor post. Members of the marana town council. My name is span azata.
I am with the arizona close. No, she was close. I've heard worse. I've heard worse.
span azata with the arizona technology council. It's an honor and a privilege to be here tonight.
thank you all for hearing all the statements, both in support and in opposition.
arizona technology council is supportive of this project of this rezoning.
whether we know it or not, we use data centers every day. If you posted a photo on instagram of your family during the holidays,
use the data center. If you were feeling ill and went to an urgent care during the holidays,
you use the data center. If you were studying for your final exam and you asked
the question of claude or chatgpt, you used the data center.
these are critical components of the 21st century economy.
now, arizona technology council with help from the american edge project and the technology councils of north america,
published a press release in december, that data centers in arizona have created over 250,000 construction careers,
but also nearly 40,000 technology jobs.
these are jobs, but they are also careers with health insurance,
dental, 401ks, etc. These are jobs that can sustain families.
if we want more of these careers in arizona,
in the town of marana, we need to say yes to projects like this.
the arizona technology council wholeheartedly support a2 and a3.
thank you all for your time and wish you all a happy new year. Thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker is carol clement, followed by chris laria.
>> good evening, mayor and council. My name is carol clement,
and I am a registered landscape architect with the state of arizona.
I've been practicing landscape architecture in the sonoran desert for over 20 years now going on 30.
I have worked on large projects for the city of tucson,
pima county, and the arizona department of transportation. I'm also a member and have been for
several years for the city of tucson's design review committee,
as well as pima county's design review board.
often in our deliberations, we find ourselves asking the question,
and it has served as well. How will this project, whatever project we're reviewing?
how will this project benefit the people?
the land, in the next 20 years,
in the next 50 years, in the next seven generations.
the enormous energy demand projected for this project will
be generated primarily by literally water over the dam?
lake pow, glen canyon dam. Water over the dam.
we are in the tenth year, I can't remember, sorry,
but we are currently in a drought phase. Lake pow is predicted to reach a 77% chance of
reaching critically low reservoir elevation in the water year 2026,
77% prediction of probability.
now, those of you know the system know that lake mead is at zero.
it will take water from lake mead to feed lake pow.
we get the majority of our electricity from water over the dam.
we as desert dwellers, we work very hard,
and are vigilant about conservation of water and how we
dedicate the use of our most precious resource as desert dwellers.
a decision by the town to accept the data storage project as proposed,
even with the additional ordinances, which were very good, in my opinion,
at this juncture be irresponsible, disrespectful, and foolish.
the eyes of the future looking back to us at this moment.
your eyes looking back to us at this moment, 10 years, 20 years,
50 years down the road, I think, would not be in favor of a yes vote on this.
>> thank you very. >> excuse me. I'm not done. Ma'am. You've gone over your all time que.
>> I would like to suggest that perhaps this could be ameliorated by requiring beal construction
to supply 70-80% of their electrical use by site generation.
they say they don't have room on their roofs. Use a [inaudible]
>> thank you very much. We appreciate your comments tonight.
>> thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker. The next speaker is chris laria followed by joe m. Parsons.
>> chris laria, if I'm saying. >> laria.
>> close enough, though, that works. Good evening, mayor and council.
typically, when I stand up here, I am dressed a little bit better and part of the design professional industry.
today, I am just a resident of marana. My family moved here 1999.
I moved here in 2001. My kids all go to musd schools.
my grandparents are interred at the veterans memorial cemetery.
I work in marana. My wife works in marana. We have just been here and we strongly support this project.
I have personally seen, a couple of projects come through my office in hopes that project blue,
would be supported and passed. When city of tucson just completely shut it down,
those projects were not only put on hold, but they were canceled out right.
I urge you all to send a loud and clear message,
to everybody that the town of marana, is ready for smart good development.
with projects like this, we will be able to build rooftops.
with rooftops, we will get commercial development.
it is a long term growth project.
thank you so much. Please support this project. >> thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker is joe m. Parsons, followed by brad bradley, and the final speaker will be nicole borchaloui.
>> mayor and council, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I wasn't going to speak tonight.
I did at the planning and zoning. But after fred spoke, I felt like I had to come up.
I couldn't let him be the oldest guy here. We moved to marana in 1972.
I'm a graduate. My wife and I are both graduates at marana high school. We raised our kids here.
I've had the opportunity through the years to actually beyond some of the committees that we're talking about
tonight and the growth when we annexed the golden triangle and it was price club at
the time and we didn't have to raise property taxes. We were able to go and get ahead of tucson and when we did,
I was on that committee. I was also on the committee when the town of marana bought the wells
from irrigation and bought the private water companies here in town.
we were looking at growth, and I always thought that this town is my hometown,
where you could actually approach your council and the staff and things that you don't have in big cities,
and I think we still do have it today. I appreciate the fact that the time that these people spend,
the volunteers that work on the different things that you probably don't get in the big cities.
I'm really appalled that anybody would say anything and to discredit
our council that had worked so hard and with their time for the benefit of this community.
I know everybody doesn't want anything in their backyard. That's in nobody's backyard.
it's in the perfect place. It's way out there. It's probably closer to my house than anybody here.
I can see their park from where I live. We've been ranchers, farmers,
we've been a union contractor since 1972.
I believe it's the right place. I couldn't remember when marana had dirt roads.
kirby hughes was dirt road. Barnett road was a dirt road. Tangerine didn't go through.
gladden farm was beautiful fields. I didn't like it coming,
but I didn't own the land. All I could do is be part of the process of the planning
and the council and planning and zoning on how they move forward, and I appreciate the fact that marana has done that and is still doing that.
hey, guys, back then, you could get on the freeway without having to wait for so long.
I think it's in a good spot. I know it'll benefit the southern arizona construction force.
mayor, I have just one quick thing. I won't take more time.
I spoke at the chamber of commerce one time when they were talking about project blue and tucson.
when you have a $5 billion project, there's hardly any company in phoenix or tucson big enough to do that job.
since there's no federal money or public money involved.
I would hope that there could be some type of ad hoc committees that could work with the building trades,
work with some local contractors, work with the general contractor where you could split this job up,
so it's not one $5 billion contract, but there's some other contracts where
some local contractors could work with the crews that they already have.
thank you and I totally support the project. Thank you. [applause]
>> the next speaker is brad bradley, and the last card is nicole borchaloui.
>> I wondered where you've been hiding at brad. >> there mr. Chair, right there. I had to put a jacket on.
hey. Good evening. Mr. Mayor, madam vice mayor, council members, appreciate it.
for the record, brad bradley, fire chief of the northwest fire district. Normally, we don't, as a fire district weigh in on these things.
by nature we're pro growth. We support all growth. Town of marana is our closest partner in that,
and we seek to serve the town, whatever the town's needs are. Our mission very simply is to save lives,
protect property, and care for the community. We don't know anything about water, we don't know anything about power,
we don't know anything about data centers. We just know about saving lives and protecting property and caring for our community.
I wanted to come here tonight to give you some perspective, add some context to your decision making.
unlike dr. Streeter, whatever decision you make, know that it's respected from my organization.
whether the town chooses to move forward with this project or not, we respect this decision that each of you are going to have to make.
but with that, context. Based on miss sullivan's numbers that she presented earlier,
relative to revenue to the fire district, $15 million over 10 years,
that's 1.5 per year, $1.5 million is enough to fund an entire fire station.
that fire station right down the street that staffed 24/7 only costs 1.2 million to staff.
as we move forward, we've got another station planned at twin peaks and iten.
we'll be going out to bond to be able to afford the station.
but when we look at how are we going to afford the staffing for it, it's $1.5 million.
that is $0.10 on our tax rate. That revenue that would come to our organization would essentially be
an infusion that is worth $0.10 on our current tax rate or 3% of our total budget.
very impactful. But with that said, like I said, we are pro growth, we support all growth.
the decision as it relates to what is going to be built or not built,
that is entirely yours. Just know that we support you, and we're here to advocate for you and be a resource for you,
however you choose, and we respect whatever decision you make. >> thank you very much.
>> welcome. [applause]
>> the last speaker is nicole borchaloui. Is nicole in the room? Mr. Mayor,
I have no other cards. >> does council have any questions for anybody in the front row there?
council member kavanagh. >> mayor. Thank you. I want to address,
are both [inaudible] here?
>> yeah. They're both here. >> chris and brian, I just need to get your assurance.
seriously. I'm sorry. That I need to get your insurance that you're going to find
every possible way not to raise the rates of marana rate payers.
is it locked tight? You cannot raise that because of the data centers.
the grade stress, the lack of power, the infrastructure has to come in and be there for the data centers.
there's no chance at all that that could be drift over into the rate payers in marana.
I need to get a firm assurance.
because that's my biggest issue. >> mayor. That's my charge from my board,
and so we're going to do everything we can to make sure that happens, so yes.
>> protect the rate payers. >> correct. >> they're going to pay for everything.
>> protect our members. >> yeah. Okay. >> protect our members. >> thank you. >> how about our guy from tep?
>> mayor, vice mayor, councilman cavanaugh. I can point to the contract that the acc
approved not long ago that makes those same commitments.
I can't speak because this contract isn't in front of us yet,
but I can point to what's already approved and in place by the commission and it makes those commitments that you're asking for.
>> is the commission sensitive to data centers being passing on costs to the rate payers?
>> vice mayor, council, we had a very robust discussion with the commission,
a lot of discovery and analysis of that contract, and they're asking the same questions you are.
>> I got your assurance? >> yes, sir. >> thank you.
>> mr. Rozema, I know that you and your staff have worked very hard over the last year,
better than a year. I'd really love for you to weigh in on this.
you're integral part of this decision.
I'd surely like to hear what you have to say on this matter.
>> mr. Mayor, vice mayor, members of council. It's been a long night, and I do appreciate the opportunity to
just speak on behalf of our staff and the journey that we've been on.
I know you're well familiar with this, but just as a reminder about a year and a half ago or so,
we began looking into this very seriously because of what was
happening in the phoenix valley and we talked among
staff and with the council about what we could do to ensure that some of the things that were happening in
the phoenix valley area as far as data centers going up right next to residential and going in places that didn't seem to make sense,
how could we go about preventing that from happening? Jane farrell and jason did a great job of advising
us and then putting together an incredible ordinance, doing a yeoman's job of doing the research and putting in
the work to put together a ordinance that gave 100% control to the council.
through that process, I will say, I think a lot of us had many of the concerns that were expressed by people here tonight.
going through all that and researching that, we came to the conclusion fairly quickly
that there was a real opportunity for us here to move forward with
data centers that we had the space and I know there's been
concerns expressed by people about the amount of the size of the data center,
how much space it takes up. But if you think about it in these terms,
we are 80,000 acres of land in the town of marana,
and only 21,000 of those acres are occupied with any structure or actually developed.
that means we get 59,000 acres of open space,
and this is a 600 acre parcel, so it's a very small percentage of what we have available for this town to develop.
again, as we proceeded with this, recognizing that there were places where
it made sense in places where we absolutely didn't want it, but those were, again,
100% rested with the decision of the council.
as these opportunities came forward, we began to see what advantages there were in terms of the finances.
it's really difficult to hear all these numbers and walk away from
those numbers because those are numbers that represent incredible benefits,
not to the people that are sitting on the dais, not to the staff of the town,
but to the residents of our community. But when you think about the things that we as
a town would love to be able to provide for our residents, things that they've been asking for.
now one of those we've been able to provide the aquatics and recreation center.
but people who live further south are asking for one now in the south portion of our community.
being able to build those kinds of things to provide those kinds of amenities,
parks, great roads, there's so much infrastructure that we have in this community that needs to be built
that we do not have the money available to be able to do that.
this provides a resource, a revenue for us to be able to fix interchanges
to add amenities for our community that will be highly beneficial.
I think many people here that spoke tonight spoke to the work that's been done by the council,
and especially I think those people who have worked closely with the council,
knowing that over a very long period of time,
this council has made decisions, sometimes very tough decisions,
that have greatly benefited this community.
if you think of going back,
you think about the golden triangle. That wasn't a very popular decision for some people here.
if you think about the landfill, that was a very controversial thing.
but when I go to the landfill, I'm sitting there for 20 minutes trying to get in because everybody's using the landfill.
when you think about the fact that people greatly opposed
the town's position of moving forward with taking over animal control,
there was a lot of opposition to that. We move forward with that and did that,
and it's been a great advantage to this community. I think with what staff has done,
we feel that we have done what we can do and need to do in order to put
this in front of the council for you to make a decision that will greatly benefit.
we've said this over and over, at the end of the day, if a data center is beneficial to the town of marana and our residents,
it's going to happen, and if it's not beneficial, it's not going to happen.
I think we're at a point where the staff have put together
an ordinance that needs to be met by data center users.
they've met it, and they've checked all the boxes. We've done the work,
and we feel we're at that place. Now, I will just say this because
this is maybe a little bit out of left field,
maybe for some people, but I've heard it from a number of individuals in the audience.
I think maybe this council needs to hear some of this. Over the last number of weeks and even going back
further during an annexation issue that we had. This council has taken a lot of heat,
and some of your integrity and your character has been questioned,
and you've been attacked personally as a result of that.
prior to about five years ago, I knew each one of you,
but I didn't know you as well as I do now having worked closely with you for the last five years.
maybe it's not my job to defend the individuals on the council,
but I feel really quite frankly compelled. One of them is not here, herb kai, and,
his character and reputation have been called into question, mayor, vice mayor, patty,
a number of you your character has been greatly called into question.
having known you for five years, I know that that is 100% unwarranted.
I just think that you ought to know that the people that work for
you and the people that work closely with you understand and they know that.
maybe you don't need to hear that from me. But I felt like I needed to say that because quite frankly in about a month or so,
I'm up for my annual review.
that concludes my remarks, mr. Mayor. [applause]
>> [applause] I do want to point out that we have this giant stack of
letters overwhelmingly in support, I think,
jason, 34 were wishy washy.
[background]
>> mr. Mayor, the stack of papers that were presented to you represent all the comments that were received by the town and
delivered to my office as a central depository.
the total number of letters is 96 and the breakdown of those were 56 were in support,
32 are against and eight were general statements.
>> thank you very much. For the record, we have these.
is there anything anybody else would like to say? >> I'd like to address our town manager.
teri, thank you so much for all your help and your staff during this time.
I liked your speech, especially near the end when you said your review was coming up.
I got a couple of things to talk to you about that. [laughter] lastly, and I think most of you who know me,
I'm pretty easy going unless you attack me. You attack my character,
you attack my ethics, you attack my reputation.
I apologize to you people, most of you, not all of you.
with one person, I'm not apologizing to.
I worked for government contracts for 30 years,
and I had a secret coherence. I got pretty much looked after for a long time,
and I had great parents, and they taught me a lot of things. When somebody impugns me and says things like this gentleman here did,
and ridiculous things like I was up at 3:00 in the morning. I don't think anybody cares.
but anyway, I get a little upset.
I am sorry, I said a bad word; most of the council is used to that.
I thank you, teri, for coming to my defense.
again, I want to thank the staff. Lastly, quickly, our ordinance,
I don't want to forget about our ordinance. Most of you, as you've heard,
I think miss sullivan said it, it's the only one out there right now on data centers, is that correct?
I think most of it. >> mayor, vice mayor, members of the council.
it's not necessarily the only one. That's the only one that was done in advance of any data centers actually coming into play,
and it's one of the very few that are actually out there. >> thank you, sir. Thank you for that.
let's listen to teri on that one, but we are very close to being
a municipality that realized we had to adopt something like this.
we need to thank our friends up in chandler, that's where we learned it, the mayor, hartke, there,
and josh wright, who is now back to u of a, working here in town.
they're the ones who told us about it. They said you need to go in and they had data centers up there,
too, for a while. That was one of the best pieces of advice that we ever got.
our staff got together and they wrote it along
with jane and the rest of the staff and I think it's a wonderful document.
I think it's what kicked us off and got us started,
and I don't want to lose sight of that ordinance. Maybe as things change,
we might have to amend that over the years, but I just want to put that ordinance out there
and what has helped us get through these negotiations. Thank you.
>> I was really very heartened to see a longtime resident, david morals,
who has been at the center of this town for many years, stand up in support of this and joe parsons as well.
they said marana does things differently.
we have always done things differently. In 2024, the city of tucson lost jobs.
they have serious issues with homeless people, with drugs,
they have issue, and they avoid doing things
in that community that would seriously help that situation.
marana can't do that. Marana cannot be the community that ignores opportunities.
people are fixated on this data center.
this is not necessarily the way I view this. I view this as a job center, a job growth,
an area where jobs are going to be created, not necessarily at this data center,
that will be the nucleus, but next to it, next to that,
we're going to create an area in our community where jobs are going to come.
I've talked to hundreds of people over the last year.
they talk about jobs for their kids, jobs for their grandkids,
their kids having to move out, live somewhere else because they can't find jobs here.
they got to travel to phoenix to visit their kids. I look at the success of phoenix metro and I say,
hey, why can't we get some of that? We don't need all of it,
we just need a little bit. A little bit would help our community in such an amazing way.
we need monies for our schools, we need money for our public safety.
teri talked about parks. For our public safety, marana,
we do not want to forget about that. That is another thing that marana has done very well.
I've got to go to the bathroom [laughter]
and so I'm just going to go ahead and make a motion to approve ordinance number
2026.002 and the resolution
2026-005 with the additional condition added,
and hope for a second. >> second. >> I'll second that. >> roll call vote, please.
>> council member, officer? >> yay. >> council member murphy?
>> yes. >> council member comerford. >> yes. >> council member kavanagh.
>> before I vote, I want you to know, I need a lot of trust.
I need to trust in the power companies. I need to trust in beal,
being able to get the power you need, the power companies to provide that power.
nothing goes on the marana citizens. I came in here today thinking I was going to vote no on this.
but what I've heard from the citizens of this town,
most of them, not all, but most of them. I've learned from you people,
from people I really love and trust. The superintendent of schools,
the marana chamber of commerce. I love the northwest fire department.
the union workers, my god, you brought tears to my eyes.
I know you need work. It's going to take a lot. We can do this.
my biggest problems were just the unknowns, but I'm trusting there's that trust word,
that you will find the knowns for the unknowns, and you will make it known to the marana citizens.
we're going to do this, but we have to do it right. My vote is now a yes.
[applause]
>> vice mayor ziegler. [applause]
>> make sure she leaves the building. >> who was that? >> I don't know.
>> vice mayor ziegler. >> vice mayor ziegler. >> absolutely. >> mayor post.
>> aye. >> the votes are 6-0. The motion passes. [applause]
>> we will take a short break. We will take a short recess and come back and finish the other two items.
I'm going to say five minutes, but I'm sure it's going to be a touch longer.
>> I'll handle that? >> we are back in session, 8(3).
>> item 8(3), public hearing, ordinance number 2026.003,
relating to development, approving a rezoning of approximately 310.7 acres of land,
located at 14990 west harden road, northwest of the intersection of north lockett road and west harden road,
from r144 residential to sp specific plan, creating the lockett road south specific plan and
approving a minor amendment to the general plan, amending the land use category from employment to master planned area.
resolution number 2026-006 relating to development,
declaring as a public record filed with the town clerk, the locket road south specific plan,
adopted by ordinance number 2026.003. >> mr. Angel.
>> mayor post. I thought about asking mr. Rozema if I could pull the infamous frank cassidy and say,
you've heard this. But I'll get [overlapping] >> frankly, no. >> frankly, no. Thank you. Mayor post,
vice mayor ziegler, council, this item is ordinance number 2026-003 in resolution 2026-006.
this is the lockett road south data center,
the other half of the project. This property is also represented by lazath and sullivan,
representing herbert kai s12 llc,
kai trust 97 s12, llc in jihong s12 llc,
which are the property owners. The rezoning is also for going from
an r-144 to a specific plan for the purpose of a data center use,
also including a minor amendment to the 2040 general plan. The site is also approximately 300 acres in size,
currently zoned r-144, and once again, the general plan has it as employment.
same categories apply here. Same existing property uses exist adjacent to the property,
veterans cemetery to the east, agricultural uses active agriculture to the west and south,
solar energy field to the northwest, and then the surface mining operation a little bit to the north there.
this is a repeat from the last slide just citing the section of the last presentation.
once again, these are the six criteria, the baseline criteria for the data center ordinance.
for this same application, the applicant is representing that they are meeting all sections of the town code.
they're not asking for any exceptions or variances, so they're in full compliance with the code requirements.
the difference on this application or one of the differences is the power provider.
the power provider for this site is tep. Same megawatt projections or ranges are shown here.
once again, marana water will provide the portable water for the office or the domestic use of the operation.
cmid will provide irrigation industrial and fire suppression,
and wastewater will be provided by marana water. The infrastructure, same type of infrastructure is outlined here,
roadway extension of lockett road up to panel air park road.
the water extension is approximately three miles for the potable water.
the wastewater is approximately two mile extension with a lift station,
and drainage is once again that five mile regional drainage channel and their portion of that within the site.
mr. Mayor, would you like me to go through the breakdown of costing?
I'm available, if anyone needs clarification. You're welcome. This is a conceptual site plan,
which shows once again, the substation to be located within this 300 acre site,
as well as the buffers, drainage, and buildable areas there.
planning commission once again held a public hearing on this one back
on december 10th and voted unanimously to recommend approval 6-0.
as was stated in the last one, this is a discretionary item for the council.
if you'd like to, we would ask that you approve this with the recommended conditions that are outlined in the ordinance,
and also the additional condition that we had read previously,
and you have a hard copy on there. With that, I will gladly take any questions otherwise after that [overlapping]
>> this is a public hearing. I now declare the public hearing open.
do we have any speaker cards for this, jill? >> mr. Mayor, I have one, and I messed up his name earlier.
I'm not going to try again. [laughter].
>> the band is back. Thank you all, once again, arizona technology council.
we are in support of this. I'm just going to end with this and say,
thank you all for everything you've done tonight. Thank you to city staff, city manager,
everybody who's made this possible. I know I don't live in marana,
but I feel like it's going to be a good year here. I don't know about you guys. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it.
>> thank you very much. Do we have any other? [applause]
>> no, mr. Mayor. That's the only card I have. >> I declare this public hearing closed. Is there any questions that the council might have for anybody in this room?
would anybody like to make a motion? >> I'll make a motion, mr. Mayor.
>> vice mayor? >> I have a question. I can ask publicly from here.
what's this? The additional. You want me to add this. >> yes, please.
>> I moved to approve ordinance 2026-003, approving and rezoning of approximately
310.7 acres of land located at 14990 west harding road,
from r-144 residential to specific plan,
creating the elche road south specific plan, and approving a minor amendment to
the general plan and a minor amendment to the general plan,
amending the land, use category from employment to master plan area.
resolution number 2026-006, declaring a public record filed with the town clerk,
the lockett road south specific plan adopted by ordinance 2026-003.
then jane, I will also add that we will be adding
this additional condition regarding and do I need to read this, the decommissioning.
>> mayor post, vice mayor ziegler, you don't need to read it, you could refer to it.
did you want to add the condition that you have on the dais there related
to decontinuation of the use of data centers as jason mentioned?
>> that's my motion, jill. >> we have a motion?
>> yes. Thank you. >> do we have a second? >> second. >> you have a motion and a second. Roll call vote, please?
>> council member officer. >> yeah. >> council member murphy? >> yeah. >> council member comerford.
>> yeah. >> council member kavanagh? >> yes. >> vice mayor ziegler. >> yes.
>> mayor post? >> yes. >> the votes are 6-0. The motion passes. [applause]
>> future agenda items. Motion to adjourn? >> second.
>> second. All in favor. We are adjourned.