Barber County resident sues Google and officials over data center project
A Barber County resident has sued Google and county officials over the approval and zoning procedures for Project Helium, a planned hyperscale data center near Sharon. The lawsuit alleges the county commission improperly advanced the project and created zoning requirements through a contract without following proper procedures.
Barber County is moving forward with Project Helium, a proposed 1.7-million-square-foot Google data center near Sharon. The facility is expected to contain thousands of servers, use air cooling and begin construction in early 2027.
A neighboring landowner filed a lawsuit against Google and Barber County officials, arguing that the Board of County Commissioners lacked authority to enter an agreement affecting her property and failed to follow required zoning procedures. The plaintiff’s attorney, Quinn Hughes of Adams Jones Law Firm, said Google and the county have responded by arguing that the case should have been brought by the Kansas attorney general or a district attorney rather than a private citizen. The plaintiff says the suit is intended to secure protections for nearby residents even if it does not stop the project.