Members of the public will have a third opportunity to voice their thoughts on data centers in Springfield as the city, alongside City Utilities, has scheduled an additional public engagement session.
The session will take place Tuesday, Sept. 22, from 6-8 p.m. at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds E-Plex. This is an additional session scheduled after the original two sessions were filled to capacity, drawing more than 500 community members. According to a city news release, about 80 people were not able to participate in these sessions due to capacity limits.
The sessions are set up in six different parts, with subject matter experts rotating by group throughout the event. After complaints of difficulties hearing in the first two sessions, the E-Plex
session will include microphones and speakers for each subject-matter expert and will provide ample capacity, according to the release. Attendees are encouraged to attend the entirety of the two-hour event to voice their thoughts on all topics.
Springfield is in the middle of a 120-day administrative pause on data center developments. While it currently is set to expire Nov. 17, City Manager David Cameron has said the delay could be extended. During the moratorium, the city is researching a best-practices framework for approaching any potential data center developments, part of which involves hearing the community's thoughts and concerns surrounding those types of projects.
The public also is invited to share feedback via email at city@springfieldmo.gov, via phone through a hotline at 417-864-1700 and through an online survey available on the city's website.
During the first two public engagement sessions, attendees expressed frustration with the lack of detail city and CU leaders could share about data centers and felt such development was already a foregone conclusion rather than something the city was willing to simply reject. However, the goal of the sessions is to hear the community's concerns and gather questions to inform any future regulations or approaches to data center projects generally, not with any specific proposal in mind. During the sessions, city staff record questions and thoughts voiced by the public to include in future evaluations.
Any drafted regulations or legislative action regarding data centers will be presented publicly and have to undergo the public hearing process through Springfield City Council in the future.
Community members have raised specific concerns about a proposed data center plans at 2900 S. National Ave. While pre-development conversations with a developer about the property did occur with the city prior to the administrative delay, since then a rezoning request had been filed for the property to allow a veterinary clinic, not a data center. Residents have remained skeptical of the proposal, although no zoning application was filed for a data center and would not be currently allowed. The rezoning request was tabled, upon the applicant's request, until the Oct. 15 Springfield Planning & Zoning Commission meeting.
Marta Mieze covers local government at the News-Leader. Have feedback, tips or story ideas? Contact her at mmieze@news-leader.com.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield, CU schedule additional data center engagement session
