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 water‑use planning and environmental permitting as subject to state reviews. John Michael Hambley, senior project development manager for the applicant, said the team had evaluated limits tied to existing agricultural water rights and estimated a cap near 5 million gallons per day as a daily metric in their high‑level modeling; he also said the team expects the annual entitlement to be roughly 70% less than the maximum previously available under the agricultural right. Hambley said much of the operational wastewater would be cooling system flow, with domestic wastewater a small fraction of the total, and that reuse and treatment would be part of design.

The applicant stressed that mitigation agreements required under the Osprey Ridge development agreement are a core part of the entitlement. Clark said the team has either signed or nearly finalized memoranda or letters with Kuna School District, Kuna Police Department, Kuna Rural Fire District and Kuna Library District as part of the project negotiation. Specific items discussed in the hearing packet and by the applicant included a signed memorandum with the school district (Clark said the amount in one slide was a typo and the memorandum is for $500,000 earmarked for athletics and technology), a planned annual payment to help fund a police sergeant, and a proposed mitigation package for the fire district Clark described as “about $30,000,000” toward personnel and equipment for a new station and a ladder truck; he said timing of payments and details were still under negotiation.

Staff and the applicant also noted the project has undergone two traffic impact studies — one focused on construction and one on ongoing operations — and that Ada County Highway District (ACHD) has provided initial comments. Clark said ACHD review is nearly complete and that final ACHD conditions will be required before the city’s final approvals.

Public comment at the hearing was largely supportive. Neighbors, family members of current landowners and local business and civic representatives told commissioners they favored the proposal for its potential tax revenue and relatively low long‑term traffic and noise impacts compared with residential development. Speakers in support included Judy Yamamoto, Christie Yamamoto, Ray Nebeker (a long‑time farm worker adjoining the site), Tim Jensen (Kuna School District), Anna Paz (local business owner) and others who said the project offered a financially productive alternative to subdivision and residential build‑out.

Some nearby residents raised concerns. Lane Thornton, who farms adjacent land, and other speakers asked for more detail on construction traffic routing and said they were concerned about impacts to Locust Grove Road and other local roads until ACHD identifies mitigation. Several commissioners and public speakers also raised water‑resource concerns. Commissioners asked the applicant to be explicit about the water rights conversion, groundwater impacts and how the site’s private water/wastewater systems would be permitted and monitored by state agencies (Idaho Department of Water Resources and Central District Health were both referenced). The applicant said state permitting processes would govern treatment and discharge standards and reiterated the proposed reduction relative to the ag water entitlements.

After deliberation — during which commissioners said they preferred keeping farmland but acknowledged the project’s potential fiscal benefits and that the DA and agency agreements limit impacts — the commission voted by voice to recommend approval of case numbers listed in the record as the comprehensive plan map amendment and the rezone for Gemstone Technology Park, subject to the conditions in the staff report and to ACHD and other agency approvals. The motion passed by voice vote with all commissioners present voting aye; Chairman Dana Hennis recused himself from the hearing because he is a neighboring property owner and also spoke as a neighbor during public comment.

The matter will next proceed to Kuna City Council for final action; staff and the applicant said outstanding items to resolve before council include finalized MOUs with public agencies, ACHD’s final conditions and detailed water/wastewater design and permitting.

Ending: Commissioners and staff noted that future project permits and site‑specific applications will return with more detailed engineering, traffic mitigation and state permitting outcomes that will be subject to additional review and public notice.