Data center moratorium language amended by Topeka City Council, here’s what changed
The Topeka City Council has amended the language of an existing one-year data center moratorium to include restrictions on utility connections both inside and outside city limits. This change aims to prevent administrative exceptions for extending utility services to data centers. Compass Datacenters is currently pursuing a 10-building data center project southwest of Topeka.
The Topeka City Council has voted to amend the language of its existing one-year moratorium on data centers, specifically to restrict utility connections for these projects. The amendment, introduced by councilmembers Murray McGee, Christina Valdivia-Alcala, and Michelle Bradberry, ensures that utility services cannot be extended outside city limits to serve data centers, thus preventing potential administrative loopholes.
The council suspended its usual four-month waiting period to make the immediate amendment. An ordinance enacting the initial one-year moratorium had been approved earlier in the summer.
Meanwhile, Compass Datacenters continues its efforts to develop a 10-building data center campus southwest of Topeka, despite a previously filed conditional use permit application with Shawnee County being labeled as "incomplete."