'It’s not politics': Ottawa residents gather signatures for proposed ordinance to ban data centers

KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Jessica Christopher, the Franklin County resident included in this article, reached out to Lily with this update. Share your story idea with Lily.

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Ottawa United, a group of Franklin County residents, is fighting a 300-acre technology campus that could potentially be developed on the south end of Ottawa with a ballot petition.

RELATED | Ottawa residents push back against 300-acre technology campus plan

In December 2024, Ottawa city commissioners entered a sales contract with Lightfield Energy LLC. The agreement outlines the $5.3 million sale of Proximity Park, which if developed, city commission meetings indicate a data center — or centers — and a natural gas power plant would be included.

Commissioner Mike Skidmore said negotiations with Lightfield Energy began in August 2024.

Ottawa residents and Franklin County resident Jessica Christopher told KSHB 41 News in June, they were unaware of the city's negotiations with Lightfield Energy until the December 18, 2024, commission meeting. That's when the sales contract was approved.

"On Monday, Franklin County Clerk Janet Paddock notified Christopher that her petition for a proposed ordinance was permitted for circulation.

Christopher, who lives about a mile from the proposed site, drafted the proposed ordinance.

Chase Lucas/KSHB

“It stops the city from being able to allow or construct any data center that uses more than 25 megawatts of power," she explained.

Christopher says Ottawa United is working to gather 600 signatures, a little over 100 more than required, within 20 days from July 22.

On Thursday, the group collected about 80 signatures at its first drive-thru signing event at Forest Park in Ottawa. Ottawa United is holding two more signing events at the park on Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Under Kansas law, if the signatures are verified, the Ottawa city commission will have 20 days to approve the ordinance or it will go before voters on the November ballot.

Chase Lucas/KSHB

“I’m anticipating it’s going to have to go in front of the voters," Christopher said. "I would love to see the commissioners have a meeting and decide, ‘Hey, this is not what our constituents want, and we do need to get serious about this,''' but unfortunately, we’ve been speaking to them in public comment and via email for months and we’re going nowhere.”

During the July 1 Ottawa city commission meeting, City Manager Thatcher Moddie presented legal obligations the city must follow if a development goes through at Proximity Park. The discussion covered guidelines from utility sales regulations to Environment Protection Agency regulations and abatement agreements.

Commissioner Skidmore said he looked into what kind of noise a 440-megawatt gas power plant would produce. When he asked whether the gas power plant or data centers would produce more noise pollution, Moddie said without a site plan from Lightfield Energy, the city does not have that answer.

After being granted two extensions, Lightfield Energy's due diligence period ends on Aug. 1.

As of July 1, Lightfield Energy had not submitted applications with specific building sites, utility requests or building permits to the city, according to Moddie. Those applications are required for a development to move forward.

The ballot petition comes after Ottawa United collected more than 1,200 signatures for an informal petition created to voice their frustration.

Chase Lucas/KSHB

“It’s not politics, it’s community," said Ottawa resident and Ottawa United member Michael Lewis. "At the end of the day, if the government’s not there for us, we’re there for each other."

Lewis serves as vice chair for the Franklin County Democrats and Christopher serves as secretary for the Republican Central Committee of Franklin County.

Lewis and Christopher say Ottawa United is made up of neighbors on both side of the political aisle, and that the signatures they've collected reflect that demographic, too.

“Ultimately at the end of the day, we have similar wants," Lewis said. "We want good schools, we want good roads, we want healthy children, we want to succeed.”

KSHB 41 News reached out to the city of Ottawa for an interivew. In a statement to KSHB 41 News, Moddie said, "The city remains committed to a transparent and consistent development process."

Christopher and Lewis say they are looking for more transparency.

Chase Lucas/KSHB

“If you actually see the yard signs around town — no secret deals, no data centers — it was kind of, they blindsided us," Lewis said.

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