A group opposed to a proposed data center complex in Marana has ended its effort to ask town voters to block it.
Arizonans for Responsible Development submitted 2,800 signatures earlier this month to put a referendum on an upcoming ballot in a bid to overturn a recent rezoning decision made by the Marana Town Council that paves the way for a massive data center complex.
A review of the petition by Marana's town clerk found the petitions "did not include the legal description of the two involved properties required for zoning ordinances," and because that requirement was not met, "the submitted signatures are not eligible for further verification," town spokeswoman Vic Hathaway said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, a representative from the group sent town officials a letter asking the town that it withdraw the petitions, Hathaway said.
The letter to town officials by attorney James E. Barton II, whose law firm Barton Mendez Soto PLLC represents Arizonans for Responsible Development, sponsored by Worker Power, states the group "rescinds and withdraws its application" for the two referendums and that it "no longer supports placing these measures on the ballot."
Marana "does not have discretion to waive or overlook statutory requirements governing referendum petitions," Hathaway said.
"The review conducted by the Town Clerk is an administrative process dictated by Arizona law. This determination was based solely on compliance with statutory requirements and was not influenced by the request to withdraw the petitions," Hathaway said. "The Town of Marana remains committed to transparency and to administering all referendum and election processes in accordance with state law."
Marana Municipal Complex
In January, the Town Council approved rezoning more than 600 acres of land to allow for a data center campus to be built by the same developers of Project Blue, despite strong pushback from residents.
One of the two properties is a roughly 300-acre plot owned by the Kai Family Trust. Herb Kai, listed on the property details in the Pima County Treasurer's Office, is one of Marana's six Town Council members, but he has not participated in “discussions, deliberations, or voting related to this project," Marana says.
The other property is a 310-acre parcel owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to the Treasurer’s Office.
There were two referendum petitions because the data center projects spanned the two separate properties, Hathaway said.
The No Desert Data Center coalition said the attempt to withdraw the petitions by Arizonans for Responsible Development "is a betrayal of our trust" in an Instagram post.
