Ottawa, Kansas, Voters Approve 10-Year Ban on Hyperscale Data Centres

The ordinance bars data centres that use more than 25 megawatts of power inside city limits. It passed with 71.85 per cent of the vote in the November 3 general election, according to results reported by KSHB 41. Under Kansas law, the city commission cannot change the ordinance for 10 years, though voters can repeal or amend it sooner.

The vote is one of the clearest examples yet of US communities using direct democracy to block the large AI-era data centres that hyperscalers and developers are racing to build. A 25-megawatt cap is far below the hundreds of megawatts that large AI campuses now seek. It shuts the city of about 12,000 people out of that market for a decade.

The campaign began over a proposed data centre on a 300-acre site at Ottawa's Proximity Park. The city signed a sales contract with developer Lightfield Energy in December 2024. After several due diligence extensions, the city commission ended the contract about a month before the final extension ran out because the developer had not submitted the required development and incentive agreements, KSHB reported.

A residents' group, Ottawa United, formed in May and collected enough signatures on an initiative petition to put its ordinance before the commission. When commissioners took no action, residents Michael Lewis and Kim Conard sued the city, and in October a Franklin County District Court judge ruled that voters would decide. Jessica Christopher, a Franklin County resident, wrote the ordinance.

Conard told KSHB that the group does not oppose all data centres, only facilities above the size limit, and that the 10-year window allows time to draw up guidelines. She said the group kept campaigning after the contract was cancelled because another company could still pursue a project.

City manager Thatcher Moddie said the result limits Ottawa's ability to compete for some advanced regional developments but does not change the city's focus on jobs, development and property tax relief. He said the city will keep looking for opportunities at Proximity Park and elsewhere.