SoCal Union Ties Emerge as Marana Downtown Referendum Heads to Court

MARANA, AZ (February 16, 2026) – Phoenix-based Worker Power, with ties to UNITE HERE Local 11, owner of the Phoenix building associated with the committee’s address, is listed as the sponsor of the referendum committee and is pushing ballot initiatives targeting both the Marana downtown redevelopment deal and the Beale Infrastructure data center rezoning.

Local reporting indicates that a Phoenix-based activist group, Worker Power, is driving petition efforts in Marana to put two separate items before voters: the Beale Infrastructure data center rezoning and the Marana downtown redevelopment deal. Town Manager Terry Rozema said town leaders expected a possible referendum attempt on the data center and viewed it as part of the process, but not the downtown development.

Now the downtown referendum effort has triggered litigation. The committee leading the Marana push, Arizonans for Responsible Development, listed in state and town paperwork as “sponsored by Worker Power,” has filed a lawsuit against the Town of Marana after the town verified signatures but rejected the referendum application tied to the downtown redevelopment agreement, setting up a legal fight over whether the measure is referable under Arizona election law.

In those filings, the committee’s chair and treasurer are listed at a Phoenix physical address (1021 S. 7th Ave., Suite 202), the same address Worker Power publishes on its own materials. Worker Power has described its roots as an economic-justice organization formerly known as “CASE” (Central Arizonans for a Sustainable Economy). While the committee’s mailing address is listed as out of state in its compliance filings, federal filings for Worker Power PAC also show transactions involving other committees/entities that list Los Angeles addresses. Worker Power has been widely reported as connected to UNITE HERE Local 11 and has operated in coalition with the union on political field campaigns, though Worker Power describes Unite Here as one of multiple partners. Local 11 is a hospitality workers union representing 32,000+ workers across Southern California and Arizona, with an established political program that it says operates in both states.

But as the petition campaign expanded, Rozema said Marana’s bigger concern has been how the downtown project is being described to residents during signature gathering. He said circulators are spreading information he considers misleading, specifically, that Marana was “giving $84 million in resident tax dollars to build a hotel.”

Rozema said the downtown plan centers on a 20-acre town-owned parcel across from town hall that has long been intended for a walkable downtown. Since municipalities don’t operate hotels, restaurants, or spas, he said the town partnered with a private developer, Marana Urban LLC, through an agreement negotiated over roughly a year.

Under the structure Rozema described, the developer would construct the buildings and infrastructure, and the town would reimburse the developer over time, not with upfront general tax dollars, but primarily through a portion of the sales tax generated by the development itself. Rozema said the arrangement includes returning about 45% of sales tax and 75% of construction sales tax to the developer until the reimbursable amount is paid. When the project is completed, he said, the buildings would belong to the town.

Rozema compared the model to other municipal development approaches, including outlet mall-style infrastructure financing, where a share of sales tax revenue is used over time to repay upfront costs. The agreement also includes a ground lease, he said, with the developer paying $0.26 per square foot to lease the downtown land. After eight years, the town would begin receiving 3% of the developer’s gross receipts through a profit-sharing mechanism. Once reimbursement is complete, up to the $84 million cap, Rozema said the town would receive 100% of the sales tax.

A third-party analysis by Elliott D. Pollack and Company projected that after reimbursement, the town could net about $160 million, though Rozema emphasized the payoff period is expected to take decades and depends on future sales tax generation once development is built.

That dispute is no longer just rhetorical. While the data center referendum petitions are in the clerk’s verification process, and town officials have said the rezoning is on hold while they determine whether the referendum qualifies and, if it does, potentially through the election outcome, the downtown referendum effort has already moved into court.

In the downtown case, Arizonans for Responsible Development, sponsored by Worker Power, filed a lawsuit after the town verified the submitted signatures but rejected the referendum application, setting up a legal fight over whether or not the Marana downtown agreement is referable under Arizona election law.