Kuna planning commission recommends approval for Gemstone Technology Park data‑center rezoning

Kuna City Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday recommended that the City Council approve a comprehensive plan map amendment and a rezone to allow a data center development the applicant calls Gemstone Technology Park on land adjacent to South Locust Grove Road.

Planning staff and the applicant, Diode Ventures, presented the proposal and said it would convert land currently designated agriculture to light industrial and change the future land‑use map. Doug Hansen, planning and zoning director, told commissioners staff found the application in compliance with Kuna City code, Idaho code and the Osprey Ridge development agreement and recommended approval subject to the conditions in the staff report.

The applicant said the proposal covers roughly the area originally submitted — staff described an original application of about 643.3 acres then reduced by about 20.63 acres to provide extra buffering — and that the core project would be a roughly 620‑acre, single‑user data processing campus. Heath Clark, representing Diode Ventures, said the project would be phased over roughly a decade to reduce disruption, that construction could generate about 800–1,200 jobs during build‑out and the campus would eventually support “100+ high‑paying permanent jobs.” Clark and members of his team said the campus would rely on private on‑site water and wastewater systems, and that the developer intends to work with Idaho Power on substation work.

Applicant representatives and a project engineer described…