Maricopa Data Center
Buckeye, Maricopa County, AZ
Source: Primary source
Maricopa Data Center is a proposed data center in Maricopa County, AZ, operated by Fortescue.
Reporting by Eric Keller · Updated Jun 18, 2026
Take action
Maricopa, Arizona
Maricopa Data Center in Buckeye, AZ is contested. Petition: https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-building-of-a-data-center-in-our-community Track what's being decided, when, and how to weigh in.
Hearing timeline
- DecisionCity Council Formal MeetingApproved
Wed, Jan 21, 2026 · 2:30 PM MST
City Council Formal Meeting: data-center item — Binding Waiver of Enforcement of Special Permit Provisions for Data Centers for Sheely Center.
Approved — binding waiver of data-center special permit provisions adopted as amended/revised.
Meeting detailsvia Legistar - DecisionCity Council Formal MeetingDeferred
Wed, Dec 17, 2025 · 2:30 PM MST
City Council Formal Meeting: data-center item — Binding Waiver of Enforcement for Sheely Center data center special permit provisions.
Continued — item postponed to a later date, no final decision
Meeting detailsvia Legistar - DecisionCity Council Formal MeetingDeferred
Wed, Dec 3, 2025 · 2:30 PM MST
City Council Formal Meeting: data-center item — Binding Waiver of Enforcement for Data Center special permit provisions (Sheely Center).
Continued to December 17, 2025 meeting — no final decision made.
Meeting detailsvia Legistar - DecisionCity Council Formal MeetingDeferred
Wed, Nov 19, 2025 · 2:30 PM MST
City Council Formal Meeting: data-center item — Waiver of special permit provisions for data centers (Ordinance S-52435) continued.
Continued to December 3, 2025 City Council Formal Meeting — no final decision.
Meeting detailsvia Legistar - City Council
Tue, Jul 8, 2025 · 5:45 PM MST
City Council: data-center item — Data center text amendments under discussion.
- City Council
Tue, Jul 1, 2025 · 5:45 PM MST
City Council: data-center item — Data Center Text Amendment Resolution introduced.
- Planning and Zoning Board - Public Hearing
Wed, Jun 25, 2025 · 4:00 PM MST
Planning and Zoning Board - Public Hearing: data-center item — Data center text amendment under consideration.
- Planning and Zoning Board - Public Hearing
Wed, Jun 11, 2025 · 4:00 PM MST
Planning and Zoning Board - Public Hearing: data-center item — General text amendment regarding data centers
Never miss a meeting: subscribe in your calendar · download .ics
Your action kit
Sourced arguments and ready-to-send letters — every figure links to a primary record. Edit to add your own story.
Demand a full, public review — not a rubber stamp.
Ask for an independent noise study, a water-and-power impact assessment, enforceable conditions (setbacks, hours, cooling type), and that the record stays open for written comment. Procedural shortcuts have voided approvals elsewhere.
Edit freely before sending — it's a starting point. Add your own story; personal comments carry the most weight.
Edit freely before sending — it's a starting point. Add your own story; personal comments carry the most weight.
Join the campaign
Add your name and we'll email you before every hearing, with what to say and where to show up.
Neighbors taking a stand
Overview
source: linkOn a site that Fortescue formerly planned to build a hydrogen production plant on, it is unclear whether the proposed data center plan would include a hydrogen plant. On February 10 2026, the Buckeye Area and Planning Commission voted to recommend the approval of a request to modify the zoning of a 158 acre land parcel, now awaiting Buckeye City Council approval. Imported from the FracTracker Alliance U.S. Data Centers Tracker after review. Details to be corroborated from primary sources.
Operator chain
- Files asFortescue
- This facilityMaricopa Data Center
Grid & water — why here
source: HIFLD · EPAThe closest existing grid infrastructure and the municipal water system this location sits in — the same constraints the buildout model screens on (it won't site a campus more than ~2 km from a substation or ~5 km from municipal water). Distances are straight-line to public HIFLD/EPA features, not a metered connection.
In the news
source: Google News- This Buckeye land was once planned as a hydrogen gas plant. Now it could be a data centerKJZZ· Mar 4, 2026
- Australia’s Fortescue could get zoning permission for potential data center near Phoenix, ArizonaData Center Dynamics· Feb 12, 2026
- Former Nikola hydrogen site pivots to data center after Australian company abandons plansThe Business Journals· Feb 11, 2026
Data-center discussions in Maricopa County
source: LocalView (CC0)Local-government meetings in this county that discussed data centers, each cued to the moment. From the public LocalView corpus of government meetings on YouTube — a county-level signal, not necessarily about this specific site.
Tax breaks & subsidies
source: Good Jobs First / GASB 77No per-deal tax break is linked to this site yet. No state discloses the recipient of a data-center abatement at the facility level, so per-site deals are rare in the public record. If you have a development agreement or board resolution for this site, send it to us.
Arizona reported $38.5M in Computer Data Center TPT/Use Tax Exemption (Deduction Code 565; A.R.S. § 41-1519) for FY2025 (Arizona Department of Revenue, Office of Economic Research and Analysis). Program-wide, not attributable to this site.
Water use
No public record of this facility's water use. We check state withdrawal reporting for self-supplied sites; municipally supplied sites only become visible through a public-records request to the local water utility — a per-facility request tool is coming. If you have a utility document for this site, send it to us.
EPA permits & violations
source: EPA ECHONo reported violations as of last sync.
Nearest school
source: HIFLD / NCESThe nearest public school, Palo Verde Elementary School in Palo Verde, is 10.9 mi from this site (446 students).
Schools are sensitive receptors for the noise, backup-generator exhaust, and traffic a large data center brings. Straight-line distance to the nearest public school (HIFLD/NCES, US public schools only).
Hearings timeline
No public-hearing records linked to this site yet. We surface planning-commission and board-of-supervisors dates when a record names a facility. If you know of a hearing on this site, tell us.