A developer looking to get a data center project approved is offering residents of De Soto, Kansas, $20 million in credits toward utilities and property taxes over 10 years.
Data center company Digital Realty said it is working with De Soto officials to finalize the credits, describing it as an investment in the community.
The company bills itself as “the world’s largest cloud- and carrier-neutral data center platform.”
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The $20 million would allow for payments of up to $1,000 per household in De Soto, which is a Kansas City suburb.
Some residents aren’t impressed by the promised payouts.
“It’s a bribe, is what it looks like. If you can’t give us the true answers, then don’t come to me with money and expect me to believe what’s going on or accept that money,” Toni Caldwell told KSHB-TV.
Local realtor Sherelle Witt also had some qualms.
“Who wouldn’t like a thousand dollars? But is it to make the residents happy and to get the city to pass,” she told KCTV-TV. “To me, it’s almost an admission that it is going to affect the residents in some way or another.”
The data center is, at the moment, only a proposal. If approved, its first phase will consist of constructing up to nine data center buildings, taking up about 3 million square feet on a 280-acre parcel of land, according to the city government.
The first phase is projected to create more than 1,000 construction jobs at its peak, along with 250 permanent jobs associated with the data center.
The total amount of land planned for the project is about 1,400 acres, Digital Realty said. A public hearing regarding a tax increment financing district for the project is scheduled for Nov. 19.
If it gets the go-ahead, construction would begin next year.
Another data center from developer Mount Sunflower is already under construction at another site in De Soto.
Digital Realty plans to pay for needed electrical infrastructure upgrades for the project, including a new substation and transmission facility, according to the city. The data center also plans to use air to cool itself for 85-90% of the year, only using water-based evaporative cooling at peak temperatures.
De Soto resident Doug Geist said the data center project should just be put to a city vote.
“We’ll just have to see what happens in the next year, getting it built up and what happens to our utility bills, and what happens to our water supply,” he said on KMBC-TV.
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