The residents have spent weeks going door-to-door across Festus and gathering signatures for a petition that would require a vote before data centers are approved for the next decade, said petition organizer Erica Carter.
Neighbors are concerned about water and electricity usage at a proposed 365-acre data center, among other environmental concerns.
She was submitting a copy of the petition, signed by more than 1,400 Festus residents, at Monday's City Council meeting.
Many of those signing the petition, Carter said, were concerned by how little they knew about data centers.
"This hit Festus so quickly that nobody knew what a data center was," she said. "Some people had never even heard of a data center before this."
In November, St. Louis County-based CRG announced plans to spend $1 billion to $6 billion on building a data center just west of Highway CC and Interstate 55 in Jefferson County. Festus is about 40 miles south of downtown St. Louis, just west of the Mississippi River near Crystal City.
The project, the company said, could generate between $30 million and $40 million in local tax revenue with more than 1,000 jobs during construction and 200 "direct operational" jobs once the facility is running.
A self-described nonpolitical person, Carter said her life "was turned upside down," when a neighbor casually mentioned to her in November that a data center was being proposed about 500 feet from her home in Festus.
"We knew nothing about it," Carter said.
She and about nine other Festus residents spent weeks meeting with neighbors to gather signatures for the petition. It demands the city hold an election within the next 30 days.
Carter said even though Festus does not have explicit rules for petitions on issues like data centers, she believes the City Council should recognize that the petition represents "significant public interest."
"We have more signatures than the people who voted in the last mayoral election," Carter said.
The last mayoral election had about 1,000 voters participate, she said.
The deadline for submitting items to be included on the April 7 municipal election ballot was Jan. 27, according to the Missouri secretary of state's office.
The next available election date is Aug. 4, which has a May 26 submission deadline for proposals.
Carter said she believes the public election is the only way to help restore trust between city leaders and residents, who were angered to learn that officials had been meeting in private with the developer and discussing possible locations for a data center for more than two years prior to it going public in November.
According to a lawsuit filed against the city, officials sent emails and text messages among themselves about the data center rather than discuss the matter in open meetings. That case is ongoing.
"A project of this magnitude demands the highest level of transparency and public engagement," Carter wrote in a memo to the city, "not secrecy and after-the-fact disclosure."
Festus City Administrator Greg Camp did not respond to interview requests.
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