One of the two petitions presented by Emporia Neighbors United has passed muster.
Lyon County Clerk Amie Jones says the petition to ban high-impact data centers had enough verified signatures for the next step in the process. The effort was stopped after 806 signatures were validated. Over 200 were invalidated when the process ended Tuesday.
Work is now underway to validate the second petition designed to ban the battery energy storage systems often attached to data centers.
Emporia Neighbors United says it submitted over 1,800 signatures to the Emporia City Clerkâs Office late last week.
City Manager Trey Cocking says valid petitions face one of two directions: affirmation by the Emporia City Commission or a public vote Nov 3. Affirmation would stop the data center process for a decade.
Cocking says the current thought is to bring both petitions, if the BESS petition is validated, before city commissioners as part of their meeting slate Aug 5.
