Gilbert's Town Council spent hours debating how far data centers should sit from homes and how much water they can use before ultimately pushing the vote to December. The delay comes as the town considers some of the strictest data center rules in the region, including a 650-foot residential setback and a ban on using drinking water for cooling.
The proposed amendment to Gilbert's land use code would limit data centers to Light Industrial and General Industrial-zoned land, require that 650-foot buffer from residential areas, and prohibit drinking water use for cooling systems, according to the East Valley Tribune. The council is now set to revisit the amendment on November 12, as reported by The Business Journals.
Beyond the setback and water rules, the draft regulations would cap data center height at 55 feet, require a sound study, and mandate one parking space per 6,000 square feet, per the same East Valley Tribune report. The proposal would also ban open-loop evaporative cooling systems and cooling towers outright, a direct response to concerns about how much water these facilities can draw in a desert climate.
Only One Data Center Exists in Gilbert Today
Despite the intensity of the debate, Gilbert currently has just one data center within its borders: AZO1 Phoenix, a 14,000-square-foot facility operated by US Signal at Sunrise Business Park near McQueen and Elliot roads, the East Valley Tribune reports. The town has not received any applications for new data center development, according to ABC15.
Still, officials are moving preemptively. Gilbert leaders are weighing restrictions amid concerns about the potential effects data centers could have on water supplies, electricity demand and neighboring residents, the Daily Independent reports. During an Aug. 11 study session, council members pushed staff to go further, particularly on water use and on ensuring the council retains final say over any major data center proposal, per the same account.
Gilbert officials have pointed to the town's existing water conservation efforts as part of the backdrop for the debate. The town recharges or recycles an average of 3 billion gallons of reclaimed water annually for irrigation and other non-potable uses, the East Valley Tribune notes.
A Statewide Reckoning Over Water and Power
Gilbert is not alone in grappling with this issue. Mesa and Phoenix have also recently adopted guardrails for data centers, according to the East Valley Tribune, and the discussion arrives as the digital economy, including artificial intelligence, drives demand for more computing infrastructure, ABC15 reports.
The numbers behind that demand are striking. Arizona currently has between 100 and 115 operating data centers, with roughly 86 more either planned or under construction statewide, according to Arizona's Family. In the Maricopa County region alone, data centers already operating have a combined capacity of at least 2.3 gigawatts, while planned facilities could add at least 8.5 more gigawatts to the local grid, per the Arizona Daily Star.
Water use estimates vary just as widely. A large-scale data center relying on evaporative cooling can consume as much as 4 million gallons of water a day, the Arizona Daily Star reports, and an analyst estimated that data centers across the state drew about 10,200 acre-feet from local water systems in 2025. A separate analysis by Ceres estimated that Phoenix-area data centers' annual water needs could balloon to nearly 56,000 acre-feet within six years if all planned facilities come online, according to the same Arizona Daily Star report.
Not everyone agrees on how alarmed to be. Water policy expert Sarah Porter has said data centers alone are unlikely to destabilize Arizona's long-term water supply, provided strict local oversight and advanced conservation planning remain front and center, Arizona's Family reports. The outlet also notes that water consumption varies substantially depending on a facility's size and cooling technology, and that many newer data centers are deploying systems that use far less water. Even so, experts generally agree that power, not water, is the more immediate concern for data centers in the Arizona desert, according to the Arizona Daily Star.
Other Arizona Cities Are Drawing Their Own Lines
Gilbert's debate fits into a broader pattern playing out across the state. Data centers have received immense pushback across the region and the nation, the Arizona Daily Star reports, and the Arizona Republic identified 71 data center campuses planned or operating in Maricopa County alone. Lawmakers have also acted at the state level: the Arizona Legislature approved a three-year moratorium on tax incentives for data centers, which Gov. Katie Hobbs signed, per the Arizona Daily Star.
In Peoria, leaders have directed city staff to pursue a zoning code amendment requiring data centers to obtain a special-use permit, replacing a more than 20-year-old code that currently allows them in all industrial zoning districts without restrictions or council approval, the Arizona Daily Star reports. Peoria staff have recommended a 500-foot minimum setback, a 50-foot landscaping buffer, power-demand studies, third-party noise studies and screening of mechanical and electrical equipment.
Gilbert's proposed 650-foot residential setback would exceed what Peoria staff have recommended, underscoring how aggressively the town is approaching the issue even without a single pending application on file. With the vote now pushed to November 12, the shape of Gilbert's final rules — and how they compare with neighboring communities — remains an open question for both residents and the data center industry watching closely.
