Last month the Page City Council moved forward with plans to sell 500 acres for the construction of a $15 million data center.
But some residents want the issue to go to a city-wide vote.
Councilmembers who support the effort say it’ll bring jobs and new revenue to a city that mostly relies on tourism.
But some residents are skeptical about the proposal from Huntley LLC and worry about its possible environmental impacts.
Page resident Beth Henshaw is among those who have pushed the question to voters and has been gathering signatures.
“We don't want them to take water from Lake Powell or the Colorado River, which is already stressed and over-allocated,” Henshaw says. “We don't want the city to decide for us. We want to learn more, and we want this to be on the ballot. It's going to affect this whole town."
Henshaw says they need 303 signatures and plans to deliver them to the city clerk this week.
It’s not yet clear when a potential vote would take place.
Even if the effort is successful, Henshaw says it will be an imperfect solution as only voters in Page will be able to weigh in.
“LeChee is our neighbor, it's right on the edge of city limits. Big Water residents are 15 minutes out of town, but everybody comes in, uses Page. That's where they spend all their money, that's their town. But they don't get a say, they don't get to vote,” Henshaw says.
Data centers often require huge amounts of water for cooling.
But the developers for the Page project say they’ll use what’s known as a “closed-loop system” to get around that issue.
They plan to build the data center along Highway 89, just north of Horseshoe Bend, within the Page city limits.
It’s not the first time Page residents have appealed to voters to reverse the will of the council.
In 2026, Page voters will weigh in on a city plan to narrow a stretch of Lake Powell Boulevard after residents filed a voter referendum.
