Southern and western Johnson County has seen a wave of large-scale data center proposals, including an $860 million DAMAC Digital project in Edgerton and a $3 billion Beale Infrastructure campus in De Soto. The Beale proposal, which should place a data center near the Panasonic plant, has seen the scope of the project nearly double from initial plans to nearly 2.9 million square feet. Digital Realty has also floated a much larger campus on ~1,400 acres in De Soto.
Residents have raised concerns about water usage, noise, air quality, power demands, and environmental/health effects in more rural communities. Edgerton’s planning commission denied the DAMAC plan (citing zoning on fuel storage tanks), but the City Council unanimously overrode that denial. Moratorium proposals in Edgerton and Gardner failed. Some projects were withdrawn after pushback, and developers have claimed (disputed) partnerships with Johnson County Community College.
At this time, no ground has broken on new data center sites.