Oro Valley Bans Standalone Data Centers in 7–0 Council Vote
The Oro Valley Town Council voted 7–0 on Wednesday, Oct. 28, to change the town's zoning code and eliminate standalone data centers, while Pima County — weighing its own rules the same day — said a ban is not on the table there, the Tucson Daily Brief reported Oct. 29.
By Marisol Rodriguez, editor & host of TucsonBound
October 29, 2026 · Events & City Hall
What happened
Oro Valley's vote adopts a zoning code amendment that eliminates standalone data centers as a use in town. The council set aside a permit-based approach — allowing data centers case by case under conditions — for now. The town's Planning and Zoning Commission had voted 4–1 a day earlier, on Tuesday, to recommend the change, and the council took it up at a special meeting and public hearing on Wednesday evening.
Pima County is moving the other direction. Its Planning and Zoning Commission met Wednesday to hear the latest amendments to a proposed county data center ordinance, after a month-long survey and two public hearings. Development Services Deputy Director Thomas Drzazgowski said a ban is "not on the table" for the county. The concern driving both debates is water: according to KGUN, more than 86% of the nearly 2,000 people surveyed worried data centers would use too much of it. The county rules are being written during the Board of Supervisors' temporary hold on new data center permits and would not affect the already-approved Project Blue.
The result is two different answers inside one metro. Inside Oro Valley's town limits, a hyperscale data center now has no zoning path at all. In unincorporated Pima County, the question is still what conditions — water use, power, reporting — a project would have to meet.
Why it matters if you're moving to Tucson
If you are buying in Oro Valley or the wider Premium North, this is the town's character in one vote: protective of its residential feel, willing to say no to a land use outright, and comfortable being more restrictive than the county around it. The same instinct shows up in Oro Valley's sign codes, building rules, and HOA landscape — it is a large part of why people choose the town, and a fair warning if you find that style of governance heavy-handed.
The water argument is the part to take seriously wherever you land in the metro. Data centers are the current fight, but the underlying question — how a desert metro grows without outrunning its water and power — touches every new subdivision, including the ones in this week's headlines. Before you buy anywhere in Pima County, read our Tucson utilities guide for how water and power actually work here, and our coverage of the city's own CODE Tucson '26 development-code package for the parallel debate inside Tucson's city limits.
Source: Tucson Daily Brief (October 29, 2026), reporting the Oro Valley Town Council vote of October 28 and the Pima County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, with KOLD and KGUN reporting as cited there.