The prospect of data centers coming to Lawrence slipped past some community members, including some who helped craft the new land development code.
“I’m concerned that I did not know, and I apologize to the community that data centers ended up in the land development code,” Michael Almon said during Tuesday’s Lawrence City Commission meeting. “I didn’t catch it when I was on the steering committee, so I apologize for that. They need to be restricted through some sort of permitting process.”
A steering committee started working on the new land development code in 2022, and city commissioners approved it in November 2024. The loudest concerns voiced at the time pertained to increased density in neighborhoods.
Some of those concerns persist since the code went into effect April 1, 2025, but a growing public awareness of data centers and the potential for harm they could bring to the area showed through during the commission’s work session to discuss the code.
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Between written public comments and people who spoke during Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners heard from about two dozen people asking them to take action against data centers.
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The only mention of data centers in the land development code is one line in a table — but it opens the door to potentially allow a massive data center to be constructed in town with no public process.
Data centers would be permitted in areas zoned for light industrial, general industrial and as industrial business parks. They’d also be allowed by a special use permit in certain mixed-use zoning or the downtown commercial district.
Jeff Crick, director of planning and development services, told commissioners that means a proposal for a data center in areas where they’re permitted by right would not come before the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission or city commissioners for approval. They’d proceed straight to the city’s building permit process.
Several community members asked city commissioners to consider a moratorium on data centers. Some voiced concerns that “data centers” are not defined in the code.
Lawrence resident Dominique Sexton said she wasn’t asking to be accusatory, but “Who did this? Was it something that was done by the consultant? Did staff put it in? Why, when, where, how, why were they permitted without any definition?”
Resident Sofiana Olivera shared her concerns about the potential for the cost of water to increase on top of utility costs the city has raised. Data centers can create massive water and electric demands.
Vice Mayor Mike Courtney said a few years ago, data centers didn’t look like what they look like now.
“They are definitely power-hungry beasts that, you know — people never talked about water rights or electricity, and so that’s not on anybody who helped develop the land development code,” he said, responding to Almon’s apology. “That is something of the last couple years.”
Commissioners don’t take binding votes during work sessions; however, they did agree that they have consensus to ask staff to look into what they can do about it, including potentially a moratorium.
“We put data centers into the land development code because we didn’t have a lot of conversations about the details and the scales of those things,” Crick said. “But that is a possible amendment that could be put in, and we figure out how long that may take to get back to you.”
Douglas County commissioners have also been looking at codes around data centers. They heard similar feedback from community members during a meeting earlier this month.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at [email protected]. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
