Small Kansas town's fight against data center heads to court after city sues citizens following petition

JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. — KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne reports on stories in Overland Park, Johnson County and topics about government accountability. She has been following the data center debate in Edgerton, Kansas, since it initially started. Share your story idea with Isabella.

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A data center debate in a small town in Kansas is battling it out in the courtroom, as the city of Edgerton is suing two Johnson County residents after they filed a petition to block hyperscale data center development.

Attorneys for the city and the resident defendants, Carrie Schmidt and Kimberly Twente, met before a Johnson County judge Thursday morning.

The case is among the first in the Kansas City metro to take the ongoing data center debate between residents and cities to legal battlegrounds.

Earlier this summer, Schmidt and Twente launched a nonprofit to raise money for attorney fees to officially file a petition against data center development. Under the petition ordinance, any hyperscale or "High Impact Data Center" development would not be permitted within city limits.

Voters would have to approve the petition ordinance in an election.

The petition comes after dozens of neighbors spoke out against the development of Dubai-based company DAMAC's proposal to transform its existing land and warehouse into a hyperscale data center. Their concerns ranged from environmental impacts, potential health issues and overall transparency with the city's approval process.

The proposal was initially rejected by the city planning commission, but that decision was later reversed following an appeal. The petition garnered more than 200 signatures from Edgerton neighbors and was turned into the city in July.

About a month after the petition was turned in, the city of Edgerton filed a lawsuit against Schmidt, Twente and their created nonprofit, the Public Trust Collective.

The lawsuit claims Schmidt's submitted petition was administrative in nature, and therefore prohibited under Kansas statute. The city is seeking to void the petition and invalidate it, while claiming the proposed petition ordinance would cause future injury to the city and not allow it to be repealed for 10 years.

Schmidt and Twente explained they feel the lawsuit is retaliating against them for using their First Amendment right.

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“They are trying to keep this petition (from going to) the voters," Twente said. "This is bigger than us — this is affecting communities, this is affecting our community, this is affecting communities around us. This is affecting the whole nation because this is not just an Edgerton issue, this is an issue that is affecting our entire country.”

The defendants' attorney, Linus Baker, filed a motion to strike the case for Schmidt, but also filed a motion for discovery for Twente.

During Thursday's proceedings for Schmidt and the Public Trust Collective's motion to strike, Baker argued that the city can't establish a likely probability of obtaining the relief it seeks, and the city can't satisfy its burden under Kansas law.

On Wednesday night, the company behind the proposal, DAMAC, filed a last-minute motion to intervene with a similar interest in somewhat support of the city of Edgerton.

Baker and his clients opposed the motion while Edgerton city attorneys stated in court they would generally be in support of DAMAC intervening.

Twente explained Thursday's motion hearing comes at the threshold of conversations regarding public trust between the city and its citizens.

"This is what we are fighting for, I do not ever want anyone to fear participating in their First Amendment rights," Twente said. "Retaliation against that is illegal, and we are going to make sure that nobody ever gets retaliated against for this."

The defendants' motions to strike were granted Thursday afternoon. Twente's motion for discovery was denied, per a court document.

The city of Edgerton declined to comment.

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