One Phoenix land-use practice went from 10% to 70% data-center work

A data center used to clear a city council because it read like an office building on the site plan. It generated little traffic and drew no significant protest. Permits came almost without obstruction, according to the CNN reporting that mezha.net relayed in Ukrainian ^[3][21]. The AI buildout changed the thing under review. The buildings got much larger, and the biggest ones need enormous quantities of electricity and water ^[4][11]. Councils now weigh the investment against the load on the grid, the water supply, the environment and local infrastructure ^[8]. The dispute runs through social media, council meetings and campaign advertising ^[6].

That opens two windows in a project's timeline. Before the permit, developers' counsel contests land-use claims, environmental impact, noise and water consumption, and negotiates with regulators for approvals; Morris does that work for developers, operators and technology companies ^[9]. After the building runs, the plaintiffs' bar arrives. Sheets's complaints allege that constant noise from cooling systems and generators interferes with residents' use of their homes and land, and that property values may fall ^[17].

Morris, quoted in translation, said these are the most difficult cases in his practice, and that every available legal tool gets used in them ^[10]. Energy litigation is being pulled in behind land use. Tyler O'Connor of Crowell & Moring in Washington said, also in translation, that even when his firm is not working directly for such clients, almost all of its current work takes account of the arrival of data centers ^[15].

Morris spent years moving housing, office and industrial projects through municipal procedure and neighborhood opposition, and advised data-center clients only occasionally ^[1][2]. His number is a share of one practice in one metro area. Seven times the share, 70 divided by 10, describes his calendar and does not size a market ^[1]. It would move the same way if his housing work simply dried up. The population-level figure belongs to the Bloomberg Law survey published in June ^[13]. The firms marketing dedicated data-center services include Latham and Watkins, Perkins Coie and WilmerHale ^[12]. For this friction to land on a given project, the jurisdiction has to be one where opposition is already organized, and at least one moratorium now exists in 88% of the states ^[2].

Carlos Michael Pollack, identified in the account as a law school professor, expects courts to apply the same environmental and land-use rules they used in disputes over large industrial facilities ^[19]. That doctrine is old and its record is documented, so a developer can read in advance what a neighbor's lawyer will file.

The reporting carries no duration and no price. There is no figure for how long the moratoria hold, how many projects were abandoned, what a year of entitlement delay costs, or how the four noise suits are going ^[22]. It does carry the escalation path: if lawsuits and moratoria slow construction substantially, industry may ask the US Congress to limit municipalities' ability to block projects ^[20].