Less than a week after Kanza Park Place announced plans for a gigawatt-scale data center on Emporia’s west edge and city commissioners annexed five tracts of land ahead of a recommendation from the Planning Commission and final decision by the city, a lot of questions remain about the Flint Hills Digital Campus.
Some of the most recent questions have to do with the construction timetable. Kanza Park Place’s Garrett Nordstrom says construction is tentatively set to begin by the second quarter of 2029, depending on when engineering and design work is completed. If the project is fully built out over the projected 1,000-acre campus, this could be a 10-year project.
Nordstrom tells KVOE News the project is through Evergy’s initial review phase and is headed to what is called the Analysis of Alternatives or AQ phase. While designed to be scalable, depending on system capacity, it’s too early to say how much power will be needed across the campus.
Companies with a presence at the Digital Campus will be responsible for costs associated with power delivery to their specific operations, including overall consumption costs and infrastructure including transmissions and substations.
Water use, especially with Emporia’s water capacity and the potential strain on the Neosho River, is another concern. Nordstrom has told KVOE News the final cooling technology will depend on the end user’s needs — once one comes on board — but it could well use either air-cooled or closed-loop systems or a combination. There are three general options for water use: air- or dry-cooled, which uses no water for cooling; closed-loop, which uses a sealed system and reuses a continuous stream of cooling fluid; and evaporative, which Nordstrom says is the most water-intensive. Also, no water rights agreement has been set between Kanza Park Place and the city, although Nordstrom says the plan is to measure potential water use by the data center against the city’s available resources.
Main Street Director Casey Woods says the potential utility needs for the data center connect to some longstanding discussions at the local level.
Nordstrom says the Digital Campus is not involving significant material processing, industrial wastewater discharges, manufacturing or constant heavy truck use. The plan is to use existing city and county codes for site planning end environmental buffering as ways to lessen any environmental impacts on the property, which involves much of the available land between Roads 190 and 170 north to south and from Roads G to F east to west. A large parcel of land immediately north of Jones Aquatic Center and the Cedarbrook Meadows housing development, between the Kansas Turnpike, Road 190 and Road G, is also part of the data center proposal.
The Digital Campus website, flinthillsdigitalcampus.com, also contains information about the planned use of Senate Bill 98, which sets basic policy at the state level for data centers. According to the Kansas Legislature, companies that invest at least $250 million into a data center by their fifth year of operation and maintain at least 20 new jobs within two years after starting operations at the data center can receive sales tax exemptions — but they also have to commit to begin construction within 10 years of the agreement date, commit to a 10-year electricity purchase agreement with the “public utility that is certified to provide retail electric service in the territory where the qualified data center is located,” agree to several water policies including recirculating and recycling, as well as other measures. The Digital Campus website says SB 98 does not allow data canters to get discounted electric rates, so other electric categories — residential, agricultural and small business — will not have to subsidize data centers for energy use. The website also says all data center projects must be reviewed by the Kansas Intelligence Fusion Center for operational purposes, technology systems, equipment and ownership structure.
Public opinion since Tuesday’s announcement has been largely to overwhelmingly critical of the plan, but Nordstrom, Woods and other city officials say there are benefits to such a development. Woods says it will serve to modernize Emporia’s economy.
Regional Development Association Interim Vice President Brad Kraft agrees.
Kraft says the data center could be a “tax anchor” for the city, causing a major decrease in property taxes.
RDA Interim President and CEO Lyle Butler is looking at the companies potentially at a data center, the companies that may come to Emporia to support data center businesses and the jobs needed for these companies.
Butler says local public opinion largely reflects the national conversation on data centers and their potential drawbacks for cities. He also says the transparency demanded by residents is what local leaders are providing.
As far as upcoming public meetings, the Emporia Planning Commission does not have a data center-related item on the agenda for its meeting Tuesday, but it will have a special meeting, including a public hearing, on the proposal for a new zoning overlay next week. That meeting will start at 6 pm at the White Auditorium Little Theater.
Meanwhile, the RDA Board of Directors is addressing the data center as part of its monthly meeting at 7 am Friday, and it has released a lengthy Q&A document following a lengthy list of questions from the community, notably a series of queries from resident Jackie Miller. Some of the points from the Q&A include:
*Up to 2,000 construction jobs throughout the building process, which could last up to a decade
*Between 300-500 employees at Digital Campus end users and another 300-500 employees through ancillary or supporting industries
*Main fuel source will be natural gas
*Potential sound expectations, including up to 95 decibels for interior server halls, up to 75 dBA (reflecting what the human ear can detect) for exterior cooling equipment and up to 100 dBA for backup generators. Enforceable noise standards will be up to 60 dBA at night and up to 75 dBA during the day
*Setback requirements of 200-250 feet for main buildings and between 300-500 feet for mechanical equipment when exposed
*Potential on-site chemical storage, which is listed as “comparable to those used in large hospitals, universities, office campuses or utility facilities for equipment maintenance, cooling water treatment and electrical systems rather than industrial manufacturing processes.”
The Q&A also says there have been no negotiations for tax abatements, tax incentives or public subsidies to this point, although there is an expectation of some request from a potential end user, perhaps as soon as this year. While saying the full project could “significantly strengthen the local economy, diversify the region’s employment base and create new opportunities for future generations,” the document suggests residents demand “a transparent community benefits agreement, including local hiring provisions, infrastructure contributions and commitments that deliver tangible value to Emporia and Lyon County throughout the abatement period, not just after it ends.”
*Click here for the Flint Hills Digital Campus website
*Click here for the city of Emporia information page about the potential Digital Infrastructure zoning overlay
*Click here for the Regional Development Association of East Central Q&A page on resident questions
*Click here for the Kansas Legislature’s information page on Senate Bill 98
