KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Ryan followed concerns brought up online and was able to get in touch with concerned residents. If you have a perspective you'd like to share to participate in future coverage, reach out. Share your story idea with Ryan.
—
The city of Osawatomie, Kansas has entered into a pre-development agreement with Alcove Development to begin working on a data center project.
The estimated $1 billion project could sit on 115 acres north of the town of about 4,000 residents.
"One of the things we have not been able to successfully do is land a big commercial development," said City Manager Bret Glendening.
This project would be big — the largest in the municipality.
The preliminary development agreement, according to public records show the site would be a 600,000 sq. ft. campus, upon potential completion, it would have between 60 and 90 full time employees.
Construction on the project would bring in up to 350 jobs.
The city of Osawatomie agreed to a 3-year contract that gives Alcove Development priority for surveying the land for a data center project with the exclusive right to develop.
Come Summertime, the developer will begin sending payments for the purchase of the property over that 3-year period.
The developer can back out at any period of time.
Osawatomie city leaders agreed to not market the property to any other developers.
Additionally, the city agrees to abate 50% of property taxes for 10 years and issue Industrial Revenue Bonds, payable to the developer and would not be a city obligation.
The contract goes on to that the city mus provide one million gallons of water and 150 mega watts of power per day, including 5 mega watts of renewable energy credits, which are available to an adjacent solar array operated by the city.
"In my mind, residents of Osawatomie should be cheerleading for this project. That's not saying this project is going to happen tomorrow or likely in the next six months," Glendening said. "Our goal here is not only to bring a significant commercial development to our community, but also to increase our tax base that isn't residential."
According to the City Manager, Osawatomie is in a unique position where 80% of its tax base is residential property.
"It takes a lot more residential properties to equal that of what one single commercial development," he explained. "Every dollar of commercial development is equal to 2 dollars of housing. We get a lot more bang for our buck when we get a commercial development happening in our community."
Glendening explained, the property tax revenue generated from a development like this would be a game changer.
Residents though, aren't buying that it would be a positive for the city.
"What wants to live next to that? I don't really particularly like and they haven't even built it yet," said Herb Byard, who lives down the street from the site. "The people, the citizens of this county and the city would like to be involved in some of these decisions."
But the pre-development agreement was introduced in early December, according to Osawatomie city council meeting minutes.
All meetings offer an opportunity for public comment, according to agenda records
Since, the council approved the pre-development agreement in January, residents have expressed concerns online and disdain for the city's priorities — many of them concerned that they were unaware.
Much of the concerns expressed online are used by sharing AI generated images and AI is driving the demand for data centers.
Gamboa asked about Glendening about the online push back and he explained he tries to stay off social media and that he can present the facts, but that doesn't mean people will believe them.
Since then, residents have been expressing their concerns at city council meetings.
Two residents even expressed their opinions during a legislative committee meeting early Monday morning in Topeka.
The committee hearing, which Glendening attended to advocate for Senate Bill 146 — legislation for land acquisitions between the city of Osawatomie and the state of Kansas.
The city acquired the land back where the proposed data center site is back in 2006.
Part of the deal for the city to acquire that land was it must be used for economic development. Glendening expressed, the city has invested millions into getting the areas infrastructure built up.
But, the agreement is set to expire this summer and the city is hoping to maintain that property.
Residents expressed concerns about the data center project during the legislative committee hearing.
Legislators on the Local Government committee expressed they do not have control over what takes place on the property and their issues are a local matter.
Still, distrust has grown among many of the people KSHB 41 Miami County Reporter Ryan Gamboa spoke with on Monday afternoon.
"They're willing to sell out people for a data center — between light pollution, water consumption, electricity, I'm worried about my utility bills," said Jacob Ginsberg, an Osawatomie resident. "It's gonna be like living next to Chiefs stadium with it being lit up all the time."
Much of all residents concerns stem from the potential for a rise in utility costs, water consumption, and potential health impacts.
According to the city, increasing its tax base with a major data center development, could help lower the city mill levy rate — ultimately saving people money.
"Prove it to me, put it in writing, I want a guarantee," Byard responded.
"They might be able to get our property taxes lower, but I also think they're going to kill our property value at the same time," Ginsberg said. "I highly doubt that a 600,000 square foot facility that really doesn't do much but taxes, I don't think that's going to help a whole lot. That doesn't make much sense to me."
The city of Osawatomie's aging infrastructure remains on the forefront of this conversation for Ginsberg.
In September of 2024, KSHB 41 reported on the city receiving a major federal grant and loan to renovate its Great Depression era water treatment plant.
Glendening explained its infrastructure can handle the demand for water even with the facility still in the renovation stages.
"The city of Osawatomie has senior water rights on the Marais Des Cygnes River. We are currently using 40% of our allocation. We approached 750k gallons a day on average. We peaked at 1.2-1.3 million gallons a day," he said. "We have the capacity to go an additional million and a half gallons. It may be more than that. An additional million gallons will take us to 80% of our allocation from the Kansas Water Office."
The city is also expecting any impact to utility bills to be fronted by the end user of the data center.
"I have communicated to the developer multiple times, in order to secure those power demands, you have to bring those to use, there's also a capacity component too, so whatever you're generating, whatever you're consuming, you have to generate that capacity," Glendening added. "I would not even ask my council to vote on a rate of increase that is driven by a large consumer of water. That development needs to pay for it themselves."
While residents expressed concerns about lacking an opportunity to participate in the pre-development plan — there will be more opportunity given that the developer will likely need a Special Use Permit to move any proposed project forward.
Still, residents have questions about the kinds of the projects city leaders are prioritizing.
"We've got two Casey's in town, a couple restaurants, that's about it. Out of all the ways we could use 115 acres, this is how were gonna use it? I don't think it's going to create jobs in the long room," added Ginsberg. "You wanna talk about financially stability, a stable income is how you do that not through taxes."
A data center is not a done deal in Miami County — it's only an option.
It's up to the developer to determine if the land is suitable for the project.
What's next will be up to Alcove Development, which KSHB 41 reached out to with a list of questions by email, and has not received a response.
Gamboa also reached out to the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Service, which oversees the Osawatomie State Hospital for comment and has not heard back.
The proposed data center project would sit across the street from a psychiatric hospital.
—
