Data centers in Miami County, Kansas: 1 project mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Alcove Development of Lawrence is proposing Project Catalyst, a data center campus of 500 megawatts of power or more on a 283-acre site inside Osawatomie city limits, near West 335th Street and Osawatomie Road. As of mid-September the Osawatomie Planning Commission was weighing whether to recommend it to the City Council, which makes the decision. The county's three-year moratorium on data centers covers only unincorporated land, so it does not apply here.

The city has agreed to waive half the project's property taxes for 10 years and to supply 80,000 gallons of water a day for cooling, which City Manager Bret Glendening says is about 10 percent of the plant's usual output. Officials project $30 million a year for the city and $10 million each for Miami County and the school district. "This is huge," Glendening said. The city says the campus will be air-cooled and that Evergy's rates for very large customers keep its power costs off homeowners' bills.

Many neighbors are opposed. A summer City Council meeting ran four hours, with worries about water, power and noise for patients at Osawatomie State Hospital nearby. Troy Harp, who leads the opposition, said Alcove's own plans point to a natural gas power plant; an earlier petition against the project was ruled invalid, and in June he began collecting signatures for a new one to limit its size. "The billionaires know how to play these country towns," resident Michael Hursey said.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.