Developer behind proposed data center on South National sues city over moratorium
A developer, NSI A.1 LLC, has filed a lawsuit against the City of Springfield, Missouri, challenging the legality of its recently enacted 120-day moratorium on data center applications. The developer alleges the moratorium was improperly enacted and functions as an interim zoning regulation without the required public hearing. The city states the moratorium is to allow time to develop a regulatory framework for data centers.
NSI A.1 LLC, a company affiliated with developer Trent Overhue, has filed a lawsuit in Greene County Circuit Court against the City of Springfield, Missouri. The suit challenges the legality of the city's 120-day moratorium on accepting and processing data center applications, which was passed by the Springfield City Council as a special ordinance on June 29.
Overhue had previously indicated he would consider litigation if the moratorium, set to expire on November 17, were extended. City Manager David Cameron recently suggested city staff would request an extension. The moratorium was partly prompted by Overhue's pre-development application for a small-scale high-performance computing and data processing facility in a former medical office building at 2900 S. National Ave.
The lawsuit alleges that Ordinance 28306, despite being characterized by the city as an exercise of general police power, operates in substance as interim zoning. It claims the ordinance disables various land-development review processes and was enacted without the required public hearing and 15-day published notice mandated by state law for zoning regulations.
The city's stated purpose for the moratorium is to provide staff time to gather public input and develop a comprehensive regulatory framework for data center developments, as there is currently no specific definition for data centers in the city's code.