With the petition seeking to ban high-impact data centers in the Emporia area currently awaiting a pair of decisions from both the community and Lyon County District Court, Emporia City Manager Trey Cocking says Emporia leadership will likely have some more important decisions ahead following the general election.
As KVOE News has reported, the petition has been placed on the November general election ballot at the order of Senior Judge Glenn Braun last month; however, Braun did so without rendering a decision on whether the petition was legislative or administrative in nature. At this time, it appears that decision may not be reached until after the election.
With this in mind, KVOE News asked City Manager Trey Cocking on the monthly Q&A With Trey Tuesday, if the community were to vote in favor of the petition, meaning a 10-year ban on high-impact data centers locally, would the city abandon current discussions on the Flint Hills Digital Campus project regardless of the final decision on the petition’s nature.
Cocking says a vote in that direction would be telling and the commission would have some difficult decisions to make.
That said, Cocking did note the petition, if approved by voters, would only ban high-impact data centers in the community. He then clarified that high-impact data centers are those which use up to 100,000 gallons of water and 10 megawatts of energy daily.
This led KVOE News to ask if the commission has been exploring other options for the Flint Hills Digital Campus Center, to which Cocking stated not at this time. Cocking also stated the city is not currently pursuing a development agreement with any possible end users, saying they are waiting until the end of the election cycle to do so.
When asked if the developers were still in talks with any possible end users, Cocking stated he could not speak for them, but believes they are continuing to shop the project at this time.
Cocking’s comments Tuesday came just hours before Lyon County Community Alliance held an information session, Let’s Learn All About Data Centers and the Flint Hills Digital Campus discussion, at the Emporia Public Library Tuesday evening.
Flint Hills Digital Campus Center spokesman Garrett Nordstrom will be joining KVOE’s Newsmaker segment at 7:20 am Thursday.
