Data center rumors spark protest in Sahuarita

On Thursday afternoon, dozens of protesters carried signs, chanted, sang, and occasionally slapped their ankles free of carpenter ants as rumors of yet another data center have been rumbling throughout the small town of Sahuarita.

In August, a spokesperson for the Rancho Sahuarita Homeowners Association told residents of Rancho Resort that the owners of their planned community have been talking to data center developers, as first reported by the Green Valley News.

The protester’s main grievances were against Rancho Sahuarita owner Jeremy Sharpe, and the Mayor and Town Council for what they feel is a disregard for their concerns that a data center could drive down property values, produce excess heat, disrupt native species, and pollute the currently vacant land.

“They're afraid of Jeremy Sharp and will not show up. They will not say one thing against Jeremy Sharp because they're all in his back pocket,” said Randy Mayer, a pastor and main organizer of the anti-data center group.

Mayer said Sharpe hasn’t been receptive to the community’s calls for conversation.

“I've sent him a couple emails. He doesn't respond,” he said.

Dan Mazur is a resident of Rancho Resort, another planned community on the opposing street corner also owned by Sharpe. He said his house is about a quarter of a mile away from the area in development talks, and is worried most about noise. He pointed to a widely referenced example out of Dowagiac, Michigan, where a data center there produces a high-pitched hum 24 hours a day.

“People can't sleep. Their animals can't sleep. Everyone's stressed out,” he said.

The 221 acres west of Interstate 10 are zoned for “park industrial,” according to the Rancho Sahuarita Specific Plan.

Sahuarita officials have emphasized to residents that no official application has been made yet.

But protesters said concern began over a year ago, when Sharpe submitted a request to the town council to confirm the land’s zoning would allow a data center.

Mayer said the resulting analysis from the town’s Community Development Department told Sharpe the right to build a data center was grandfathered in. Mayer disagrees with that analysis, saying data centers could not have been predicted when the plan was created in the late 90s.

“What we really have problems with is that our town council keeps on telling us, no, we can't deal with that plan. It's a grandfathered 1996 plan, and that is wrong. That is false. They can't be. They have to stand up and say that they're going to protect us,” Mayer said.

As the town continues to work on a code amendment that would address data centers specifically, Town Manager Shane Dille told the crowd at an Aug. 10 meeting that any new adjustments would not apply.

“It will not change existing zoning or development entitlements for industrial-zoned properties within specific plans, specifically the Rancho Sahuarita specific plan,” Dille said.

The town has not received any requests to enter into a non-disclosure agreement, or received any application at the Sept. 8 Town Council meeting, Dille said at the Sept. 9 meeting.

“I assure the council that if we were ever presented with that kind of request, we would let the council know, even outside of these formal meetings,” he said.