Joplin Planning and Zoning advances plan to bring data center

BY DEBBY WOODIN

dwoodin@joplinglobe.com

Joplin might be the next Missouri town to see the construction of a data center, depending on what decision the City Council makes at a meeting next week.

The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday voted to 6-1 to recommend approval by the City Council to zoning changes proposed as a location for the data center.

James Pinjuv, owner of Wildwood Ranch, seeks to annex 540 acres at the intersection of 20th Street and Central City Road into the city limits. He also asks for rezoning of approximately 600.4 acres southwest of the intersection from single-family residential property to district M-2, which is heavy industrial, to locate a data center.

City planner Tyler Bellairs told the commission that an annexation agreement of property located between 20th and 32nd streets was previously given tentative approval by the city in 2009. The agreement is in force through the year 2029, he said.

Several industrial operations are located in the general area, including a Liberty generating plant, an Owens Corning manufacturing plant, and a Joplin Concrete Co. plant, Bellairs said. The electric plant is situated on State Line Road, near the west edge of the Wildwood property.

In addition, the city had identified that area as a future industrial site and heavy industrial location on the 2018 Wildwood Acres master plan for future development. The city has improved 32nd Street and 20th Street to handle truck traffic because of the industrial designation and also has plans for a highway to be called the West Bypass to be built in the area, Bellairs told the commission.

Pinjuv said the property had been planned to be annexed,“and we hadn’t wanted to do it until we had a prospect and an end user in place” for the site.

“We are now under contract and hopeful that the deal will come together,” he said, adding that it could wrap up within the next three to nine months.

Commission member Natasha Klue-Michael said some residents have asked

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her why the sale of the property is contingent on the sale and rezoning proposals.

She said she had been told it was to be used to build a data center.“The public is concerned that if we put this in, where does all our drinking water go?”

COSTS TO DEVELOPER

Pinjuv said that typically the main concerns with these types of projects are about water and power use.

“It is an enormous power consumer and an enormously large water consumer, and there will have to be improvements of the water system and the grid, and those costs will be completely 100% borne by the developer,” he said. Commission member Mary Anne Phillips asked if the contract was to buy the land or to lease it for the business. Pinjuv said it is a purchase agreement. He also said it is a three-step process starting with him as the local developer. Then there is an overall developer specializing in these types of projects to purchase the land and do the improvements, such as upgrading utilities. Then there is an end user, and the end user pays for it all.

“There are very few companies in the country that can do this type of thing,” Pinjuv said. He added that the contract will be completed in the next nine months or not at all.

“This business is one that is evolving quickly, so the things that the end user is looking for change rapidly,” Pinjuv said.“Right now, it’s a race amongst probably six companies in mid-America that can afford to do this, so timing is important.”

About six residents spoke to ask questions or express opposition to the proposal.

One resident said that data center developments are known to drive up the costs of electricity to all users as well as use massive amounts of water.

Resident Susan Mitchell, 5128 W. 20th St., asked if the tract is annexed how the city would patrol the area “because we don’t have enough police to patrol what we’ve got now.”

Commission chairman Drew Kimble said he could not speak about what police can do because the commission members are volunteers.

Bellairs said all zoning requests go to the police department, which lets the city’s zoning office know what concerns it has, and that office has not heard any concerns.

Kimble said he assumed a business of this type would have its own security force.

51 VOTE

The commission voted 5-1 to recommend the annexation to the council.

Pinjuv, asked by commission members about the need for rezoning, said the reason is to bring in a high-tech business. Some questions about the type of business have not been answered for him, he said.

A $200,000 study will have to be done to determine if Liberty and the Southwest Power Pool can provide adequate electricity.

“It’s a large amount of power, roughly what is transmitted now by Liberty” for the Joplin area, Pinjuv said.“Here, Liberty has no excess power. So the end user will pay for more generation. The costs are staggering.”

Commission member Crystal Harrington asked how much of the property would be used. Pinjuv said there won’t be a lot of buildings; only about 20% of the 4 million square feet of annexed land will be used, Pinjuv said. He said the building would be secured tightly and there would not be people going in and out.

Pinjuv also said he will have a site plan by the time the City Council hears the case.

Other residents raised questions about the property’s generators creating noise and pollution. One woman expressed concern that the water use would lower the area’s water table.

Nearby residents also spoke in opposition to the project, saying that data centers are known to create costs that utility companies pass on to other consumers.

Pinjuv said that a state law passed last year, known as Senate Bill 4, would protect consumers.

The City Council will hear the annexation and zoning requests Tuesday, Jan. 20. The council normally meets on Mondays, but next Monday is Martin Luther King Day, a federal holiday, so the city will be closed.