MESA — Dozens of Valley residents shared concerns about data centers with Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes at a town hall in Mesa on Wednesday night.
Mayes has called for a temporary moratorium on new data center approvals.
“This really has to be dealt with at the statewide level, and that's why I have called for a moratorium for now, so that we can get our hands around the situation,” she told reporters after the town hall.
Several speakers spoke out against a data center under construction in Ahwatukee. Menlo Digital is building a 1 million-square-foot hyperscale campus with an onsite power substation with 257 megawatts of power.
“This is a very serious health concern for us,” said Kathy Monk, who lives a half mile away from the construction site.
She said her family doctor told her people that close to the completed data center will face cardiac and pulmonary issues.
“Do you know what he told me?” she told Mayes. “He said, ‘You need to move. You need to move.’ My doctor said that.”
Do you have a concern in your community or a news tip? We want to hear from you!
Connect with us: share@abc15.com
Monk also said the high-pitch frequency emitted from the data center complex could harm people with hearing aids and pacemakers.
“It’s toxic,” she said.
Other data center opponents said such heavy industrial facilities shouldn’t be allowed in commercial areas located so close to residential areas.
“We have talked to the city – our city councilman, the mayor – and it was really depressing, the answers that we got,” another opponent to the Ahwatukee data center said.
The city of Phoenix updated its zoning ordinances in 2025 to address data centers, but the Menlo Digital project was approved in 2024, when the data centers were considered similar to an office use, the city told ABC15 in August.
Mayes, whose office is investigating the project, said she is considering filing a nuisance lawsuit.
She told reporters after the forum that she was concerned about hyperscaled AI data centers like the Menlo Digital campus being built in areas designed for lower-level commercial operations.
“And then they are somehow flipping that into this gigantic industrial facility that can give off constant noise ... and possibly constant air pollution, if they're using diesel generators to power them at any time,” Mayes said. “And so there's a lot to be investigated here, I think, with regard to these data centers.”
One person, Lisa Everett, spoke in favor of data centers, pointing to the tax dollars paid by the facilities and the number of construction jobs the projects would create. She said she was also concerned about misinformation on data centers.
“I understand the frustration. I understand it’s new,” she said. “But I’m asking you, is this just a fashionable thing, to be against data centers? Are we really going to have honest conversations?”
Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat like Mayes, has said the state should develop standards for data centers but does not support a moratorium. Mayes told ABC15 she will be talking with the governor about her proposal.
“I'm going to lobby her. I'm going to advocate for my position,” she said. “I'm going to be working with legislators.”
Hobbs said she hopes the Legislature will pass legislation addressing data centers next year.
“And I think it'll be a bipartisan bill,” she said. “I think you're going to see Republicans and Democrats come together on this issue.”
“If you like your tech and your phone and your computer and the stuff you can use that for, you probably think data centers are important,” he said during his debate with Mayes last month.
Mayes said she plans to hold more town halls on data centers, including in Ahwatukee.
Want more news in your community? Add ABC15 as a preferred source on Google below:
