A developer is planning a massive data center on 160 acres of open desert just west of Sahuarita, and most of us are only now hearing about it. I'm asking the Pima County Board of Supervisors to reject this project and protect our community.

County records obtained by the Arizona Daily Star show that Sahuarita Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of Idaho-based W.R. Henderson Construction, is scoping a development called Project Gravel. The plan includes eight buildings, each roughly the size of three and a half football fields, plus its own electrical substation, new roads, and parking lots. Project documents say it would be finished by 2029.

Two of the three parcels are zoned for rural homesteads. That zoning is meant for ranch homes and wide open space that keep this area feeling rural. An industrial campus of this size doesn't belong there.

And we still don't know the basics. The records released so far say nothing about how much water or electricity it would use, who would run it, how many jobs it would bring, or what it would cost. In the desert, families deserve those answers before anything moves forward, not after.

Contractors have been studying the site since at least August 2025. That timeline suggests the project got started before the county tightened its rules on non-disclosure agreements following the public outcry over Project Blue near the fairgrounds. No one should have to learn about a project this big through a public records request.

The Board of Supervisors is set to discuss a 120-day pause on data center permits at its upcoming meeting. That's a good start. I'm asking the Board to approve that pause and to reject Project Gravel for good, so this land stays true to the rural community around it.

Sign the petition to tell the Pima County Board of Supervisors: no data center in Sahuarita. Let's speak up now, before this project is locked in.