Commission backs wide-ranging Dobson Farms amendments to permit industrial, tech park and data-center uses

FLORENCE, Ariz. — At a joint presentation on Sept. 18, 2025, the Town of Florence Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of multiple related amendments to the Dobson Farms master-planned community to permit industrial uses, a technology park and potential data-center development.

The actions included recommendation votes for Dobson Farms East (Case PZ-25-55, about 239 acres), Dobson Farms West (Case PZ-25-56, about 600 acres), the Florence Tech Park general plan amendment (Case PZ-25-34, roughly 780 acres) and a major planned-unit-development (PUD) amendment to create specific standards for the Florence Tech Park area (Case PZ-25-35). Each vote recorded in the meeting minutes was 4-0 in favor of forwarding a recommendation to Town Council.

Applicants and consultants described the changes as aligning the town’s land-use plan with evolving market demand and planned regional transportation and power infrastructure. Julie Vermillion of CVL Consultants, representing the owner Chris Dobson, framed the requests as a conversion of certain parcels from suburban neighborhood to industry district to support general industrial and data-center uses and to improve marketability in light of the planned North–South Corridor and the Central Arizona Parkway alignments and nearby SRP substation.

The presenters estimated economic benefits and infrastructure impacts during the hearing. The project team estimated roughly 800 jobs associated with entitlements for the two East and West parcels and projected annual sales-tax revenue in the order of $10 million at full build-out, along with development-impact fee revenues estimated in the millions for police, fire and roadway improvements (figures presented in the staff packet and by the applicant rounded to approximate amounts).

Applicants and staff also said, based on engineering review, that industrial and data-center land uses would use substantially less water than the suburban-residential entitlements previously allowed under the master plan. In materials and oral remarks, presenters cited an estimated reduction in peak wastewater demand for the Florence Tech Park area (applicants’ engineers cited an estimate of about 1,160,000 gallons per day for the proposed plan compared with roughly 3,200,000 gallons per day under prior residential buildout assumptions — a reduction the applicant characterized as over 2,000,000 gallons per day).

Commissioners asked about coordination with Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and the North–South Corridor, potential impacts from future right-of-way acquisitions and how that could affect town revenues; the applicants said they had been coordinating with ADOT and had contacted state transportation officials. Commissioners also discussed landscaping standards, building heights and security and policing visibility. Ryan Companies representatives (presenting the Florence Tech Park component) described proposed PUD standards that would require masonry walls (no wood fencing), screening and landscape buildouts and included allowance for higher building heights for specific uses (applicants asked to allow up to 60 feet for light industrial and up to 85 feet for data-center uses).

The PUD amendment sets out a tailored set of permitted uses for the tech park and light-industrial area, including data centers, energy storage, training and conference facilities, bulk storage (listed separately), laboratories and technology-oriented manufacturing. Presenters said some permitted uses reflect modern data center needs (for example, backup fuel for emergency generation limited to diesel and other contained systems), and that screening and landscape requirements would be adjusted from residential-oriented standards to fit industrial use while meeting or exceeding Dobson Farms PUD landscape standards where appropriate.

Applicants and staff noted a concurrent state-level change in practice — a House bill that transfers many design-review and site-plan approvals to administrative processes rather than public hearings — and said the PUD text and administrative practices would be refined to reflect that law. In the PUD discussion, staff recommended clarifying packaging of the new standards so the tech-park chapter is clearly distinguished from the remainder of the Dobson Farms PUD; applicants agreed to work with staff on wording and packaging and did not object to staff stipulations listed on the P&Z action form.

No members of the public spoke during the public hearings for these items. After presentations and questions, the commission voted to forward recommendations of approval for each of the described amendments; those recommendations go next to the Town Council for final decisions.