The recent submittal of a petition in opposition to the proposed Flint Hills Digital Campus will not alter the trajectory of the process for city leadership at this time.
In an update on the matter during the Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas Board of Directors meeting Friday, City Manager Trey Cocking rehashed the next steps in the process for the Emporia City Commission. As has been reported, City Commissioners are currently set to review five items related to the campus project during their rescheduled July 22 meeting.
The items to be considered, and possibly approved, include:
*The establishment of a Digital Infrastructure Overlay
*Rezoning 11 tracts of land to potentially house a data center
*Applying the DIO to said tracts of land
*A large volume water use policy
*A large volume wastewater policy
If approved, the next step in the process would be identifying a potential end user for the digital campus and a development agreement where many of the questions that have been asked regarding the proposal — job creation, environmental impacts, water use and more — would, according to city and RDA leadership, reportedly be made clearer.
Friday’s report came in the same week as Emporia Neighbors United submitted a petition with 1,400 signatures looking to place the question of a data center on the November 3 ballot or halt the matter outright. When asked if the petition’s review, which is currently ongoing through Lyon County legal counsel Molly Priest and the Lyon County Clerk’s Office, would disrupt the current process, Cocking says everything will continue as planned at this time.
The digital campus has been the focus of debate for over the past month, with many residents publicly speaking in opposition at recent planning and city commission meetings and very few speaking in favor. During Friday’s meeting and other recent meetings, RDA and city leadership have stated they have heard and seen a great deal of support for the project, at least when it comes to the fact-finding aspect of it.
When asked why these individuals have not been as public as opposition, Cocking stated:
The July 22 city commission meeting will take place at 11 am inside the Municipal Courtroom at White Auditorium and was rescheduled from July 15th as city commissioners are planning to attend a Kansas Municipal Utilities class regarding data centers.
In other business Friday, RDA Interim Vice President Brad Kraft offered the latest update on the RDA’s business retention and recruitment efforts. According to Kraft, recent discussions with local businesses have centered on many topics, including potential expansion as well as how said businesses can navigate certain hurdles such as supply chain issues and tariff impacts, which have been notable problems for the past few years now.
Due to confidentiality, Kraft could not offer any specifics on the businesses they have spoken with, nor the reported “leads” that have been generated at the state and federal levels for potential new businesses in the community. That said, Kraft reiterated a comment from RDA Interim President Lyle Butler from earlier in the week, saying things are moving in a positive trajectory; however, development “takes time” and does not “happen overnight.”
The RDA Board of Directors will next convene on Thursday, August 6th at 7:30 am inside the Trusler Business Center.
