There are about 30 data centers in Kansas City, Missouri. Until this week, developers could build one in nearly any part of the city.
That changed Thursday when the Kansas City Council unanimously approved a zoning change that limits where they can be built and adds new restrictions to data centers. It’s one of the first major restrictions on data centers that the city has approved.
Prior to this move, developers could build “by right,” meaning that any project could proceed without any special permits or discretionary reviews, as long as it met the established standards.
But the city didn’t have any zoning that specifically applied to data centers, so they could essentially get built in most parts of the city without public feedback or approval from the city council.
Brooke Bowlin is an organizer with the group KC Data Center Watchdog, which is working to stop the development of data centers in the area. She said this zoning change is the first time residents have had any say about data centers in the area, and many people joined the effort from various parts of the city because of how unpopular data centers are.
“We view it as just the first step,” Bowlin said. “It's the one that's available to us now, so we're capitalizing on it. But it's not the end-all-be-all of this fight to end data center development here.”
Details of the data center change
Before the zoning change, data centers were considered a communications service establishment — similar to a radio or television studio. The zoning change would reclassify data centers in their own categories.
One category, “Data Centers,” applies to projects that are less than 500,000 square feet. The smaller developments would require review and approval of a special use permit to be built. When they are built, they can’t take up more than half of the ground floor of a building close to the street, so pedestrian activity isn’t severely harmed by the project.
Another category, “Large Format Uses,” applies to bigger buildings, like hyperscale data centers owned by Google and Meta in Kansas City’s Northland. It can also include other projects like manufacturing, warehousing and other industrial development.
The new zoning changes will prohibit data centers from being built in rural, residential, neighborhood and retail districts without rezoning or getting a special use permit.
Council member Eric Bunch said the zoning change addresses things like the specifics of where and how a data center can be built. But he said the council wants to see more details about the environmental impact of the developments.
“We've had probably thousands of emails on this topic over the last couple of months, so this is just one step in this process,” Bunch said. “There is more work to be done to understand this and make sure that folks have their voices heard on this particular issue, and that we truly address what the issues actually are.”
Smaller data centers would still be allowed in heavy business or commercial areas, but bigger ones would need a special use permit. And only small data centers will be allowed downtown with a special use permit, but would be prohibited from occupying the entire ground floor.
Data centers are still permitted in manufacturing districts and those that require a master-planned development, but new regulations will be implemented, including noise limits and requirements for the distance between the projects and the property line.
Justin Murray, an architect with Bell/Knott & Associates, submitted one of the only public testimonies against the zoning change. In his letter to the city council, he said the ordinance wouldn’t stop demand for data centers, and the zoning regulations could encourage developers to go elsewhere and force Kansas City to miss out on the construction jobs and taxes from building them.
“As a resident and a licensed architect with over 25 years of experience in the design and operation of these environments, I believe the current legislation is shortsighted, poorly defined, and unlikely to achieve its intended goals of reducing energy or water consumption effectively,” Murray said.
Bell/Knott & Associates specializes in building data centers nationwide, and has built at least three in the Kansas City area.
Development plans for data centers will need public feedback, and the final approval for most data centers will come from the city council. The code change also adds a new requirement that water, energy and other public utility providers need to submit a letter saying that they have the capacity to meet the proposed demand for the data centers.
More than 100 residents submitted online testimony on the zoning change, with most asking for the council to make regulations on data centers even more strict.
What comes next
Some city council members want to have more defined rules on when and how data centers can be built. One change may be to the city’s code to place more restrictions on the water and energy use of the projects.
KC Data Center Watchdog wants the Port Authority of Kansas City to face more restrictions. Port KC is one of the city’s most powerful economic development agencies, and does not need public approval before giving out major tax breaks to developers. The Port has given more than a hundred billion dollars in tax breaks to data center projects, like a hyperscale Google development.
At the Thursday meeting, council member Nathan Willett said the city should have more scrutiny over Port KC and the incentives that the agency gives to data centers. He also said he wants the public to have more feedback on their development, and this change is one step to do that.
“Many times you have more community engagement to put a fast food chain on North Oak than you do an actual multi-million or half a billion dollar data center,” Willett said. “This is to better guide the process and give constituents and community members more input if there are to be more data centers attempted to be built in our city.”
Officials with Port KC have said data center development projects benefit the community in myriad ways. Last August, Port KC announced a $100 billion campus would be developed in the Northland, consisting of six hyperscale data centers. Its CEO, Jon Stephens, said at the time that the investment would strengthen workforce development and education programs, improve infrastructure and create high-value jobs.
The watchdog group also wants the state to stop giving out sales tax incentives to data centers — a tax break that’s meant to encourage their development in the state — and for Kansas City to more tightly regulate the water usage of the developments.
Katie Currid is an organizer with KC Data Center Watchdog and gave public comment at the meetings surrounding this zoning change. She said she wants more accountability from local leaders for the amount of incentives they’re giving to data center developments.
“Why are we giving all this tax money away? Why are we having all this development put in place, but then it's not publicly available to all of us to know what's happening?” Currid said. “I should be able to know why my power bill went up, and it's because they had to put in a new substation or gas power plant or water pumping facility for one development.”
City council members expressed interest in looking at other policy changes surrounding data centers, like changing the code to have more defined rules on the water and energy use of data centers.
Next week, a city council committee will consider a measure that directs City Manager Mario Vasquez to study the impact of data centers on the city’s environmental quality, water rates, economic growth and financial incentive process.
