The mission of the Ahwatukee Community Alliance is to raise awareness of the well-documented threats that this data center would pose to our health, natural resources, and infrastructure, and to work alongside our neighbors in Ahwatukee to help stop it.
This data center has been pushed halfway through permitting without community approval.
SITE WORK HAS BEGUN — MANY PERMITS ARE STILL PENDING.
Facts About the Thistle Landing Data Center
POWER: 6X OUR ENTIRE COMMUNITY
This 1 million square ft., 257 megawatt “hyperscale” data center will consume 6 times more electricity than all 28,000+ Ahwatukee homes combined.1
24/7 INDUSTRIAL NOISE
Data centers can generate 96 dB interior noise. Low-frequency hum travels several miles and penetrates walls. Backup generators, tested monthly, run “full bore” every 30 days. If the data center loses power, these backup generators will run 24/7 until power is restored.2
CHANDLER REGRETS THIS
Residents across I-10 near the CyrusOne data center: years of complaints about unbearable 24/7 noise. In December 2025, the Chandler City Council voted unanimously against the building of another data center.3
ACOUSTIC NIGHTMARE
South Mountain and Foothills create an “amphitheater effect.” Rocky desert reflects sound. Temperature inversions bend noise downward. Homes near hills could experience noise TWICE AS LOUD as flat terrain.4
NO ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Approved with:
- No noise study
- No water analysis
- No power study
- No community input
- No topographic assessment. 5
ZONING LOOPHOLE
“Data center” sounds harmless. This is an industrial plant that processes data. Modern A.I. facilities use 3–4x more power than older data centers, but are approved under OLD zoning codes.6
DIESEL GENERATOR EXHAUST
Data centers run banks of large diesel generators for backup power. Monthly testing and outage operation releases nitrogen oxides (NOx), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide, and hazardous air pollutants (Carbon Dioxide, VOCS & HAPs) — directly into a residential area with no buffer zone. PM2.5 is linked to respiratory illness, heart disease, and premature death.
HEAT ISLAND EFFECT
Data centers release heat and can increase the temperature in the nearby area by 3-4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Data centers are so hot their ‘heat island’ effect is raising temperatures up to 6 miles away.
[REFERENCES]
1. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), 2023; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, “United States Data Center Energy Usage Report,” 2024. A 100 MW data center draws ~876,000 MWh/year; U.S. average home uses ~10,500 kWh/year.
2. ASHRAE TC 9.9, Data Center Noise Standards; EPA noise ordinance guidelines. Backup generator load bank testing requirements per NFPA 110.
3. Chandler, AZ adopted data center noise moratorium, 2022. Multiple resident complaints filed with Maricopa County Environmental Services regarding CyrusOne Chandler campus.
4. National Park Service, “Acoustics and Sound Propagation,” 2019; NOAA atmospheric acoustics research on temperature inversions and sound refraction near terrain features.
5. Based on community open records requests and review of Phoenix City Council minutes. No formal EIS, noise study, or water analysis appears in the public record for this approval.
6. Phoenix Zoning Ordinance, Title 6; American Planning Association, “Data Centers and Land Use,” 2022. AI hyperscale facilities (NVIDIA H100-class clusters) draw 3–4x the power density of legacy colocation centers.
7. City of Phoenix Water Services Dept. rate schedule; Phoenix City Council budget hearings, FY2023–2024. Industrial water users are billed separately, but infrastructure upgrades required to serve large industrial users are recovered through system-wide rate adjustments. of Phoenix Planning Dept. case file before final publication.
The Ahwatukee Community Alliance holds regular community meetings to fight the Data Center.
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Data Center site location