If a tech company wants to build a massive data center in Tucson, it would have to locate at least a half-mile from your neighborhood under a draft zoning change that could reshape where these industrial-scale facilities are even possible to build.
The draft code amendment shows edits changing the required separation from residential zones—including R-1, R-2, R-3, and mobile home districts—from 1,320 to 2,640 feet. The same half-mile rule applies to schools, nursing homes, and residential care facilities, as well as “other uses as determined by the Zoning Administrator.”
What the draft defines and who it covers
Under the draft, a “large-scale” facility is defined as anything over 25,000 square feet of floor area or anything consuming more than 20 megawatts of power—with the redline showing the energy threshold edited down from 50 megawatts, meaning more facilities would fall under the stricter rules.
Any company that clears those thresholds can’t just file a building permit. They’d have to go through the full Planned Area Development or Planned Community Development process—the same approval path used for large master-planned communities…