Gardner Residents Fight Tech Giant Data Center

0:00Neighbors in rural gardener are pushing back hard against a proposed 300-acre hyperscale data center at West 191st Street and South Clare Road. Bill Iffer's structure wants to build a massive campus with up to 16 data halls, calling it one of Johnson County's biggest private investments too. Boost the tax base and fund schools without straining local services. The city administrator says it's still early days, just reviewing the application and gathering comments after announcing info sessions. Energy would handle the power needs and they've got tariffs to shield regular users from big energy draws. Long-time residents like 60-year gardener, local Phil Boan and rancher Carrie Hamilton are speaking out, saying this industrial giant ruins their quiet. Rural life, hurts property values, brings noise and light pollution and offers zero benefits for farming or grandkids growing up nearby. Folks gathered Wednesday and morning range to rally neighbors drawing inspiration from nearby Spring Hill where similar plans got stopped.

1:02Bill promises to cover all infrastructure upgrades and community partnerships with renderings coming at the May 26th Planning Commission. Meeting, info sessions are set for May 13th from 7 to 8.30 pm at Wheat Ridge Middle School and a virtual 1 May 15th at 10am. This fight shows rural communities uniting their voices and we'll see if gardeners stand strong against the tech tide. That's your update from Kansas News Today, powered by AI.