Glendale council approves annexation of data centers, gas power plant

By Richard Smith
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Glendale City Council voted for the annexation of 160 acres into the city, where a controversial project with three data centers and almost 20 turbines for a natural gas power plant will be built.

Fourteen Valley residents spoke against the proposal in the public hearing, while four spoke in favor of it. One, Surprise resident Tom Bacome, said he supports Project Eagle (the data centers) and opposes Project Baccara (the power plant).

Mayor Jerry Weiers and council members Lupe Conchas, Dianna Guzman, Ray Malnar, Lauren Tolmachoff and Bart Turner voted for the annexation and an associated zoning change Oct. 27. Council member Leandro Baldenegro was the lone vote against.

“There has been a lot of misinformation that has been used to frighten people regarding this project. Data centers have been around for well over 20 years and yes, there have been some really bad ones. However, technology has advanced and there has been a conscious effort made to reduce the negative aspects of data centers — to improve the water and electricity use,” Guzman said.

Neither Baldenegro nor Weiers explained their votes.

Conchas reversed course after asking the most questions, some of them leading, during prior discussions of the data centers. A 12^th condition to the development fast tracking a future fire station in western Glendale may have turned the tide.

“I don’t agree with data centers. I don’t agree with the power generation plant but stipulation No. 12 is that this developer and this project will help increase, fund and streamline a fire station out there in the 303 corridor. And we need a lot of public safety support. And we don’t need to put our taxpayers on the bill for it,” Conchas said.

During the process for approval of the annexation, this plan has been separated into two projects, Project Eagle and Project Baccara.

Three data centers, each 330,000 square foot, are called Project Eagle and take up about 108 acres. The natural gas power generation facility with 18 turbines total is on 33 acres and called Project Baccara.

Developers also plan a 12-acre APS substation on site, which they said will take about five years to build out.

Nearly 11,000 West Valley residents signed a petition opposing the project. Most of the closest residents to the parcel live in Surprise or Waddell.

“I’ll admit, I use AI myself. This specific project on paper sounds nice but I think there are a lot of transparency issues with it,” Glendale resident Tony Camisi said.

While the topics raised by speakers often were debated for more than a year, beginning with the Maricopa County approval process, one facet of these two projects on one site was fairly new information and a bone of contention.

In addition to the two agricultural wells on this parcel, where roses were grown, the developers will drill four wells for project use.

Mark Thomas of the Arizona Progressive Coalition handed out “Vote No Baccara/Eagle,” placards before he spoke. He said drilling four extra wells is significant even though EPCOR provides the water for the development, not the city.

“They’re all sharing the same aquifer,” Thomas said.

 Ed Bull, president and attorney at Phoenix-based Burch & Cracchiolo PA, represented developer Takanock.

He said all four new wells will not be active at the same time.

“It is a well for Baccara plus a backup/redundancy well for Baccara, and a well for Eagle and a backup/redundancy well for Eagle,” Bull said.

He also said — in regard to high water usage at most data center projects — that this data center and power plant project will use about 25 percent of the water that this parcel has required for its agricultural needs.

“If the farm uses significantly more water than this project, why does this project  require four additional wells?” asked Holly Tolmachoff of Waddell.

April Butler of Waddell said the revelations about wells and the additional condition accelerating the process of the Glendale Fire station in the area are part of a pattern since this project was announced.

There is no consistency to the proposal, she said.

“It blows my mind that every time I come in and things are presented differently. It's been very, very frustrating for us. We have followed it for 15 months,” Butler said.

As Bull pointed out, the developer has Maricopa County approved uses.

Lauren Tolmachoff asked it the development would move forward if not annexed. Bull said it would.

“We have the entitlement. That is a private property right,” Bull said.

Surprise resident Lisa Everett has been a proponent of the data center for most of this year.

“If that project meets the zoning and all of the regulations like air quality and noise and it’s willing to follow all of the stipulations, the council has to approve it,” Everett said. “Just because you don’t like a project doesn’t mean you get to not approve it, if it meets all the standards.”

Sandy Bahr is the Grand Canyon Chapter director of the Sierra Club. She said the Sierra Club has more than 1,000 members in Glendale.

Bahr called it a bad idea for the Glendale community and nearby communities.

"As you heard from previous speakers, there are a lot of homes nearby. Maybe those homes aren't in Glendale, but Glendale has a responsibility to be a good neighbor," Bahr said. "Just because burning gas is not as dirty as burning coal does not make it clean."

Richard Smith
Senior News Editor | Glendale & West Valley Preps

rsmith@iniusa.org

Richard Smith has been with Independent Newsmedia since 2016, and worked at a Sun City-based news outfit covering the Northwest Valley for 22 consecutive years.

An NAU alum and lifelong Arizona resident, Richard began as a copy editor and page designer at Surprise Today and the Daily News-Sun, then rekindled his love of sports writing by taking the reins on West Valley Preps in 2008.

For most of the mid-2010s he was the Surprise editor and West Valley Preps reporter. Now he’s the West Valley Preps Editor and Surprise Associate Editor.

As COVID restrictions slowly lift, Richard is cautiously optimistic he will visit book stores, football fields and gyms again this fall.