Chandler to decide fate of Sinema's Data Center

On December 11 the Chandler City Council will vote whether to green-light a 422,877-square-foot “AI data center” in the city’s South Price Road corridor, a project that has attracted heated controversy and raises serious questions about lobbying, city planning, and corporate influence.

The most striking factor in this fight is the heavy-duty involvement of Kyrsten Sinema. The former U.S. senator has inserted herself personally in Chandler’s zoning process, an unusual move for a public-official-turned-private-sector player. Emails obtained by reporters show Sinema lobbying city councilors on behalf of Active Infrastructure, the firm behind the data-center plan.

Though Sinema is not officially registered as a lobbyist, her conduct, repeated meetings, stepped-up pressure, and even dire warnings of “federal preemption”, amounts to de facto lobbying. At a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting in October, she invoked alignment with Donald Trump’s AI agenda, cautioning that if Chandler rejects the plan now, the federal government may override local control later.

That threat to municipal sovereignty is alarming on its own. What makes the maneuver deeply troubling is that the city staff and independent planners who reviewed the proposal say the data center violates the city’s own 2022 ordinance limiting data-center proliferation. It also conflicts with Chandler’s 2016 General Plan, which designated the South Price Road corridor for “high-value employers” like manufacturing, technology firms and financial services, not essentially staffless server warehouses.

Active Infrastructure’s business model raises other red flags. According to company documents and public-utility filings, the center would demand up to 150 megawatts of electricity, enough to serve tens of thousands of homes. That energy demand, coupled with substantial water usage, threatens to strain Chandler’s utilities and undermine sustainability goals at a time when the region already faces serious drought and resource pressures.

Meanwhile, projected long-term employment gains are negligible. City planning staff noted that such data centers create far fewer jobs after construction is complete than the other kinds of employers the corridor was envisioned for.

The financial and political back-channeling is just as troubling. Emails show Sinema and Active Infrastructure staff pitching the project to individual council members, thanking them for “due diligence” on the “AI data center project.” In one string, a councilman, also a mayoral candidate, responded with eagerness and said he looked forward to deeper discussions.

That kind of access, especially from a former senator with national clout, makes you wonder whose interests are really being served. The maneuver smacks of corporate interests using political connections and lobbying muscle to push through a project that local officials long ago said did not belong in that corridor.

Chandler has a chance on December 11 to reclaim local control and enforce its zoning standards rather than acquiescing to back-room pressure. Approving this data center would set a dangerous precedent: that with enough firepower and a well-connected lobbyist, even clear areas of local control can be ignored.