Highlights

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Wednesday to grant Project Baccara a military compatibility permit, clearing the way for two data centers and a gas power plant on a 160-acre site in unincorporated Maricopa County off Olive Avenue and Litchfield Road, near Surprise and Glendale.

Supervisor Thomas Galvin, who represents District 2, defended his vote by pointing to the site's industrial zoning and its proximity to Luke Air Force Base. "There's only so many things that you can build next to a military base," Galvin told KTAR News 92.3 FM . "You can't build residential homes, so that's one of the things that is in our zoning ordinance, right? So, what can you build? Well, a data center, you can build that. It's already zoned industrial."

Galvin also cited military endorsement of the project. "Importantly, the brigadier general of the Air Force base says, 'Yes, this is appropriate,'" he said. That coordination drew criticism from opponents. "This process prioritizes military compatibility over the safety of our residents," Project Baccara Opposition Coalition member Lexsiri Coronado told the county board.

On power-grid concerns, Galvin said the developer would generate its own electricity. "It's now what I call BYOP, bring your own power," he said. "People are concerned when you put in a data center and you plug it in, it's going to suck up a lot of energy. It's going to suck a lot of power. People are concerned about energy prices, as they should be. Well, now it's incumbent upon this data center developer to build their own power."

The board received roughly 440 emails in opposition before Wednesday's meeting, and 22 residents spoke against the project, according to ABC15. Supervisor Steve Gallardo cast the lone dissenting vote. KJZZ and Copper Courier also confirmed the 4-1 vote.

Who can still stop Project Baccara?

Opponents say they plan to continue their fight as the city of Glendale moves to annex the land where the project is sited. An annexation proceeding would give Glendale jurisdiction over future land-use decisions, potentially opening a new regulatory front for the opposition coalition.

The permit vote is complete; the next decision point is Glendale's annexation process.

Around the web

Minimal public engagement on Project Baccara so far. One Reddit post in the Arizona subreddit has modest engagement, while broader West Valley discussions focus on unrelated topics like scams and wildfire concerns. No significant sentiment clusters or organized opposition visible in sampled posts.

Public discussion (links to original posts):

Sources

Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.

  1. ktar.com retrieved 2026-05-08T02:31:48.552933+00:00

Authored by hayden_cole. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 2026-05-08T02:31:48.552933+00:00. Every claim traces to a source.