KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Ryan was the first to report on the data center project in Osawtomie, Kansas. Ryan, alongside Johnson County and Government Accountability reporter Isabella Ledonne have extensively been covering data center projects in rural Kansas communities. Share your story idea with Ryan or Isabella.
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A data center project in Osawatomie, Kansas, was not on the city council's agenda Thursday night, but as they have done before, community members expressed their discontent with a lingering proposal.
KSHB 41 Miami County reporter Ryan Gamboa was the first to report on the Osawatomie data center project at West 335th Street and Osawatomie Road earlier this year. Gamboa was also the first to receive the renderings of the proposed project.
"If they want to build something else out here besides a data center and power plant, let’s do it and let’s find another project that benefits the city," Troy Harp told Gamboa on Thursday.
Harp has lived in his home along Osawatomie Road since 2002 and he moved from Olathe to live a quiet life with his family. A proud father of two recent college graduates, he fears his boys won't have a place to come home to if a data center is built behind his property.
"I never really had a home, I kind of moved constantly as a child. My goal was to have one home for my kids to come back always," Harp said. "This is not only important for me, but there are so many people in this area that will be affected by this, people in the city that will be affected by this."
The estimated $1 billion project could sit on 115 acres of land north of the town of about 4,000 residents. It also would sit across the street from the Osawatomie State Hospital, a state psychiatric facility.
In January, the city entered into a predevelopment agreement with Alcove Development, based out of Lawrence.
This project would be big — the largest in the city's history.
Public records show the site named in the preliminary development agreement would be a 600,000-square-foot 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, according to the predevelopment agreement.
The city of Osawatomie agreed to a three-year contract that gives Alcove Development priority for surveying the land for a data center project. It includes the exclusive right to develop and offers major tax breaks for the developer.
The developer can choose to back out at any time, but the clock is ticking on an "Option Period" of July 10 for the developer to officially begin making payments on the property.
Alcove Development has not paid anything to presumably conduct studies and gather other elements to present to the city council, come the end of the six-month option period.
"In terms of what the developer provides us during the study phase? We have requested noise studies, light studies, and details on the equipment, water demand (if water cooled, closed loop, because evaporative cooling systems are being phased out)," Osawatomie City Manager Bret Glendening said in an email on Thursday. "Again, the cart is so far before the horse on this project. I hope people will let the facts about this project sink in and think logically about what this means to the city, the county and the school district, and every single taxpayer in this entire county."
The city did not make anyone available for an interview with KSHB 41 News on Thursday and each elected official declined to interview.
Harp told Gamboa he is drafting moratorium legislation to propose to the city council. Harp and his neighbors collected signatures for a petition against the data center, but that petition was ruled invalid.
Earlier this year, the Miami County Commission approved a data center moratorium.
"We’re going to replicate what the county did — the county set a precedent for this, we’re going to follow that same concept," Harp explained. "It’s been successful in a county called Saline and others. We’re going to look for the same thing here to do a moratorium."
Small towns asking for data center moratoriums
The city of Edgerton voted to put its most recent data center proposal on hold, but neighbors are wanting city leaders to take it one step further. Like Osawatamie, it is one of the many communities in the Kansas City metro that has asked for a data center moratorium.
It is a trend spreading across Kansas and the country.
Many data center developers have been eyeing towns across rural America to build their hyperscale tech campuses, but neighbors are fighting back.
"I don't want sick kids, I don't want a sick community, and I don't want tainted water," Johnson County resident Carrie Schmidt said.
Schmidt lives just a mile away from where company DAMAC wants to put a data center in Edgerton. She wants a moratorium in place and so do several other cities across the area.
"We are definitely taking inspiration from what has worked and what isn't working," Schmidt said.
Neighbors in nearby Spring Hill asked their city council for a moratorium Thursday night.
"I do believe that the opposition has shown the developers that they're not wanted here," neighbor Julia Burgmaier said. "We are all going to band together and protect our communities."
Spring Hill's most recent data center development backed out. Neighbors want a rule on the books to keep it that way.
"We are feeling under pressure and nervous that the data centers might come back to Spring Hill," Burgmaier said.
But with the growing demand for AI and more reliance on a digital economy, data centers will have to go somewhere. Edgerton leaders explained data centers can bring in new tax dollars to help infrastructure.
"Things like road construction, doing new storm water projects that would prevent flooding in people's homes, and upgrade of pipes," City Administrator Beth Linn said.
Many neighbors in Kansas aren't adamantly opposed to data centers, but they don't want companies developing something harmful to their community.
"There need to be protections and regulations in place, and proper zoning for these hyperscale AI facilities that just aren't there yet," Burgmaier said.
Edgerton's City Council will be discussing a data center moratorium at its June 11 meeting.
Neighbors in Osawatomie continue to fight back
At Thursday night's Osawatomie City Council meeting, a couple hundred people from across the city and the county turned out to share their voice. It is something that has continued to happen over the past six months and the opposition has only grown.
Lee Brewer, who lives in Osawatomie, expressed his concern with KSHB 41 News ahead of the meeting.
"I think we need a new city council after this. If we end up with a data center, it’s gonna hurt us so bad, I think we need a new city council," Brewer said.
He expressed that other kinds of development in the community, like a grocery store would be more ideal.
"I would rather have a grocery store, yes," Brewer added.
The city council only allowed people to speak for one hour in public comment.
"Water scarcity, supply, contamination, noise and light pollution, undelivered jobs," one resident said. "What the hell is going into that data center?"
Some expressed personal grievances with city staff, but others shared their thoughts about water and energy consumption, environmental impact, and the impact it would have on the Osawatomie State Hospital.
"This is the first city in the country to propose a data center next to a state psychiatric hospital," one resident cried out.
But the speech that gathered the most applause from neighbors was from Miami County resident and famed "Yellowstone" actor, Mo Brings Plenty.
"If these data centers are so safe, then why are the people that are investing in them putting them so far away from themselves?" Brings Plenty stated to the council.
Brings Plenty's words were rooted in his spiritual connection to god and nature.
"We all need drinkable water — there’s no human beings in this entire world that can live without water," Brings Plenty told Gamboa in a one-on-one interview after the meeting. "The environmental impact that’s gonna happen in this area is gonna be so destructive down the road. We may not feel it 10 to 15 years from now, but eventually anyone from the age of 20 on down is gonna feel it in their life."
Brings Plenty said that the demand for data centers is driven by society and people reliant on technology, like cellphones.
In Osawatomie, a Facebook group, named Meanwhile in Osawatomie, has triggered a lot of AI-generated images.
Consumer demand for AI is driving the nationwide demand for data centers.
It is not uncommon to see an AI-generated image fighting back against the data center project in Osawatomie posted in the Facebook group.
"I hope society wakes up, because data centers only exist because there are customers — if there are no customers, then we don’t have to worry about data centers. So, it’s we the people that need to come to our senses," Brings Plenty said. "Yeah, we can be upset at some business and corporation that’s wanting to come in, but we are supporting that. But we have to do our part and say enough is enough."
Staying off the record
There has been real fears from folks in small towns regarding data center surrounding silence when it comes to data center projects.
The city of Osawatomie entered into a predevelopment agreement for a data center project in a public meeting. Cities are not mandated to notify every step of the way regarding what they are working on.
Glendening sat down with Gamboa earlier this year to discuss the data center project, but declined an offer Thursday night alongside the city council and the mayor.
Gamboa was able to get a comment from City Councilwoman Tammy Filipin in KSHB 41's Let's Talk! Southern Johnson County & Miami County News Facebook group.
KSHB 41 Johnson County reporter Isabella Ledonne and Miami County reporter Ryan Gamboa put out a post asking for public feedback on data centers.
While Tammy Filipin declined to interview with Gamboa at Thursday night's meeting, she criticized constituents in the comment section of KSHB 41's post.
Gamboa provided a link to Ledonne's extensive data center coverage that goes back nearly two years of research and interviews across the Kansas City metro.
Filipin quickly deleted the comment after Ledonne and Gamboa responded.
Protecting the homestead
Back on Harp's land along Osawatomie Road, newly placed "No Trespassing" signs have popped up near the "No Data Center" signs.
Harp provided KSHB 41 News with security camera images of an individual that was trespassing on his property in recent weeks.
The individual he says, which law enforcement has not been able to identify, came onto his property and took pictures of multiple natural gas pipelines.
There are three pipelines running from near the Oklahoma Panhandle all the way to Michigan, with spigots visible at parts of Harp's property.
His concern is that the data center will utilize the natural gas lines that run through his property to help with a power plant on the proposed data center property.
According to the predevelopment agreement, "the city supports on-site power generation through natural gas and shall cooperate with the developer to pursue grid interconnection," the agreement states.
"The ease and ability to do it in a small town is simple, they already have access to a gas line," Harp said. "Their own proposal in their meeting agenda talks about building and obtaining and easement for a natural gas power plant — there’s the gas lines right there, they are literally saying they are going to build that and tap into that."
The plea
On Thursday, Gamboa reached out to Alcove Development with a list of questions.
A partner in the firm wrote the following statement.
"Thanks for reaching out about our proposed project in Osawatomie. We have a press release going out tomorrow regarding the status of the project, and you are on the list to receive a copy. The release will clarify the status of the project, and I would be happy to discuss with you after that release."
Gamboa notified Alcove Development that a report would come out on Thursday night and the partner apologized that the press release would not be out in time.
"We are confident tomorrow's press release will alleviate a lot of concerns about the project, and show the strong community benefit that this project represents," the partner wrote in the email. "Sorry it won't be out before your report tonight. Look forward to talking soon."
The resident plea is clarity into the project as the clock ticks on the option period of the proposal.
While Harp maintains hope that the city council is listening, he fears it may be too late.
"This data center, once you build it, you can’t undo it, it’s going to be here forever. I think it’s important that they listen, the people do not want this," Harp added.
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