By Scott Shumaker | The Mesa Tribune
Data centers played a major role in sparking Mesa’s current technology and manufacturing renaissance, but the industry is starting to wear thin for city leaders.
Several expressed concerns last week that the facilities, which provide storage space, are crowding out more job-rich industries on Mesa’s precious industrial land.
They want to keep the city’s technology hubs diversified beyond data centers.
“I believe we’ve seen more than our fair share of those data centers,” said Councilman Scott Somers, who represents District 6, the epicenter of data center growth in Mesa.
Two weeks ago, a Utah data center firm purchased 165 acres of State Trust Land at Elliott and Warner, across from the massive Meta data center campus currently under construction.
Officials said at least 15 new data center projects are eyeing Mesa, based on the number of power studies requested from Salt River Project.