Bly Road residents file 52-page lawsuit to stop Independence AI data center project

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County, including Independence. Share your story idea with Tod.

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The Independence GUARD (Guardians United Against Reckless Development) Alliance announced Thursday it filed a lawsuit to halt construction of the Nebius hyperscale AI data factory in the Little Blue Valley.

Named in the lawsuit are the city of Independence, Missouri ADC Holdings LLC (data center developer) and Independence Power Partners LP.

Residents along Bly Road in the Little Blue Valley of Independence filed a 16-count, 52-page lawsuit Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court, hoping to stop a hyperscale AI data factory under construction near their homes.

The lawsuit — filed by the Independence GUARD Alliance — alleges the city violated zoning and sunshine laws, as well as the city charter, and has failed to enforce city laws. Residents are asking a judge to pause the project.

Tod Palmer/KSHB 41

The Independence City Council approved billions of dollars in incentives for a Dutch tech company, Nebius, to build and operate a 2.1-million-square-foot hyperscale AI data factory on 400 acres at the south end of Bly Road in March. Nebius broke ground on the first phase of the project in April.

Steve Jeffery, an attorney with Jeffery Law Group in Chesterfield, Missouri, said the lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to stop work at the site as the lawsuit progresses.

"Noise limits, hours of operation, hours of construction, heavy truck traffic, construction traffic — there's no check on what the developer is doing,” Jeffery, one of the attorneys representing residents, said. “The city appears to turn a blind eye to that, and that's the primary basis for the restraining order request.”

Bly Road residents gathered Thursday morning for a press conference — which included Jeffery’s co-counsel, Aaron Cook of Independence-based Cook Ellis LLC — to announce the legal action. Watch their remarks in the video player below.

Independence acknowledged the lawsuit in a statement Thursday to KSHB 41 News, but denied any wrongdoing.

“The filing contains the plaintiffs’ allegations, which the city will address through the appropriate judicial process,” the city said in part in its statement. “The city disagrees with the characterization of its actions and believes the approvals and processes related to this project were handled in accordance with applicable law. Due to the pending litigation, the city will not comment further on the specific claims at this time.”

Nebius — which is party to the lawsuit through a subsidiary, Missouri ADC Holdings — also provided a statement about the lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court.

“We are reviewing the claims and cannot comment on the case specifics,” Nebius Vice President of Public Affairs John Sutter said in a statement. “Nebius remains committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations, and being a responsible partner for the community as our historic investment in Independence takes shape.”

RELATED | Q&A: Taking Independence residents’ concerns to Nebius VP of public affairs

Independence Power Partners LP, a Delaware-based third party that is constructing a new natural gas plant to provide power to the data center, also was named in the lawsuit.

Jeffery said this isn’t about the broader AI discussion taking place across the country as opposition to data centers goes mainstream.

"Our clients are not against AI,” he said. “They're not against technology. They're not against data centers, but there's a right time and place and a right process and procedure for these types of things to occur and, in the city of Independence situation, as well as the other two cases, the local governments did not follow the process.”

Jeffery represents two other groups fighting data centers in Missouri.

Bly Road resident Kelly Garrett said the community feels let down by the city.

"We're not anti-growth; we're not anti-progress,” Garrett said. “We are upset, angry, disappointed, frustrated. What would you do? This community was betrayed — quietly and repeatedly, long before any of us had the chance to say a word.”

Daniel Moorehead, coalition leader of the Independence GUARD Alliance, said residents have endured months of disruption since construction began.

"They start (construction) well ahead of daylight,” he said. “They end well after daylight many times. We've had trucks get stuck on our road. It's actually torn up our road in multiple places up there.”

Dawn Hahnfeld, a Bly Road resident who lives near the Nebius data center, described the day-to-day impact on her household.

“Constant noise, dust, banging in the middle of the night, late at night,” Hahnfeld said. “The dog hears things that normally aren't here, so he's always keeping us up," Hahnfeld said.

Hahnfeld said she has a clear goal for the legal fight.

"The ultimate goal is to make that go away," she said, gesturing toward the construction site.

Tod Palmer/KSHB 41

Moorehead said the coalition intends to keep pushing.

"We are not exaggerating when we say this is a handful of homeowners standing against some of the most-powerful institutional and financial interests in the state," Moorehead said. “... We're going to continue to fight for our peace and our welfare here in the city, even if the city won't do it for us.”

Moorehead said residents feel they have been dismissed throughout the process.

"We have been treated as an afterthought at best and an obstacle to be managed at worst,” he said. “The city council, the city manager's office, the construction crews running equipment through the night, the developers who rezoned this land under one story and built something else entirely — every single one of them has had chance after chance to deal with us openly and honestly.”

Now, they will deal with residents in court.

Independence and the other defendants in the case have 30 days to file their response, as is typical in civil cases in the state of Missouri.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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