Leavenworth County officials reverse course, slow down on data center proposed for site near Tonganoxie

Leavenworth County officials are reconsidering a moratorium on data center developments in unincorporated areas following two county meetings on August 12. Initially, a proposal to extend a 90-day moratorium through January 31, intended to prevent "lame-duck" decisions before a new commission takes office, failed with a 3-2 vote by Commissioners Vanessa Reid, Willie Dove, and Jeff Culbertson against the measure.

However, at a subsequent meeting, Commissioner Mike Stieben, who is leaving the board in January along with Commissioners Mike Smith and Jeff Culbertson, successfully passed a motion 4-1 (with Reid dissenting) to revisit the moratorium. This decision indicates a desire to pause any data center plans until new commissioners are seated in January. Project Bluestem, a proposed 600-watt (potentially up to 1.2 gigawatts) hyperscale data center by Cloverleaf Infrastructure on Tailgate Ranch south of Tonganoxie, is the subject of this debate.

County planning and zoning members voted 8-1 to delay any regulation recommendations for data centers until after a joint work session with the county commission and public comment in September. Citizens Against Bluestem, an opposition group, expressed concerns about noise, air pollution, health, and infrastructure strain, despite Cloverleaf Infrastructure's commitment to environmental stewardship and closed-loop cooling systems. No applications have been filed for the project yet.