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Voters in Ottawa, Kansas, approved an initiative prohibiting data centers that draw more than 25 MW inside the city, the ballot measure record shows. Question 2 passed 2,882 to 1,129, or 71.85%, in the Nov. 3 general election, according to unofficial results reported by KWCH.
In-article: Architectural photograph of Franklin County Courthouse in Ottawa, Kansas, illustrating the local seat of government where the ballot lawsuit was adjudicated.
Outlets describe the measure's duration differently. Data Center Dynamics and KMBC call it a 10-year moratorium, and KSHB reports a 10-year ban on hyperscale data centers. KWCH reported that Ottawa's proposal carried no expiration date, unlike the 10-year ban El Dorado voters approved the same day. Two other Kansas cities, El Dorado and Emporia, approved data center limits in that election.
The ordinance grew out of a resident campaign. Ottawa United Inc. formed in May and gathered 1,031 signatures on an initiative petition, KMBC reported. When the city commission took no action on the petition, residents Michael Lewis and Kim Conard sued the city, and a Franklin County District Court judge ruled in October that voters would decide. KMBC also reported tens of thousands of dollars in campaign filings from a Virginia-based political action committee, Defend US PAC, urging residents to vote no in Ottawa and Emporia.
The vote followed a proposed 450 MW data center and natural gas power plant at Proximity Park, a 300-acre site in Ottawa. The city entered a sales contract with developer Lightfield Energy LLC in December 2024. Commissioners terminated the contract in September after the developer did not submit required development and incentive agreements, KSHB reported.
"We're not saying that no data center can be here over the next 10 years. They can, we're just restricting the size," said Kim Conard, an Ottawa resident. "While this changes Ottawa's ability to be in the running for the more advanced developments emerging in our region, it doesn't change our mission," said Thatcher Moddie, Ottawa city manager.
Voters backed restrictions in 40 of 41 data center ballot measures nationally, Baxtel reported. Baxtel lists 35 data center facilities in Kansas, operated by 17 providers, with DataBank's Kansas City MCI3 site in Lenexa the largest at 9 MW.
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