The Jackson County Legislature is currently weighing an ordinance that would set a 120-day moratorium on any land use applications that propose building a data center in county limits. The ordinance would also set a ban of the same length for applications regarding Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) sites, facilities that capture energy from various sources and store them in batteries.
The ordinance was proposed by Legislative Vice Chair Sean Smith, who recently ended his bid for Congress. It proposes using the 120-day waiting period as an opportunity to update the county’s permanent guidelines around land use for data centers.
If passed, the moratorium would temporarily stop the Legislature from accepting, processing and approving rezoning applications and site plans for data centers in the county. It would also block the approval of special use permits or conditional use permits for the same set of projects.
Within the proposed ordinance, Smith cites the “rapid emergence and expansion of data center developments” as a motivator for the county to review its zoning requirements.
“Such large-scale technology facilities present significant land use, infrastructure, environmental and public safety concerns,” the ordinance reads.
Legislators could take the opportunity to create stricter guidelines and conditions for future approval of these projects, including “enhanced public notice requirements for future applications involving large technology facilities,” the proposed ordinance reads.
The ordinance also references similar developments on a state and city level. The Missouri House of Representatives is currently discussing guidelines for water and energy usage by data centers and BESS sites throughout the state.
Meanwhile, Kansas City passed new rules over the winter that placed more limits on where data centers can be built and beefed up the need for public hearings and special approvals for proposed projects.
The text of the proposed county ordinance notes that legislators were also motivated by “widespread community opposition and resident concerns related to large industrial technology facilities.”
The legislation comes about a month after Independence passed a $6 billion series of tax breaks for a $150 billion artificial intelligence data center, twice the size of Arrowhead stadium, set to break ground later this year. Residents attempted to start a referendum process, suing to uphold their right to petition for a public vote on the tax breaks, but were shut down by a Jackson County judge despite collecting about 5,000 signatures.
Kansas City plays host to dozens of smaller data centers, with another large facility planned for nearby Smithville.
The Jackson County Legislature heard the ordinance for the first time Monday but did not discuss it at length. It is currently before the Health & Environment Committee, a subgroup consisting of Legislators Jalen Anderson, DaRon McGee, Venessa Huskey and Megan Smith.
The Jackson County Counselor’s Office signed the proposed ordinance, indicating that the county’s legal team finds the ordinance would be enforceable and does not clash with state or local law. The proposal will reappear before the full Legislature in the future for a final decision.
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