Piedmont, Yukon, Luther, Muskogee, Coweta and others—-they’re Oklahoma cities where residents are opposing proposed data centers. In some cases, petition drives were launched by citizens but in Kansas, it has backfired as some cities have turned around and sued the citizens.
The cities of Edgerton, El Dorado and Emporia want to halt citizen-led petitions that, if implemented, would ban data centers of a certain size via ordinance, reported the Hutchinson News. The cities facing data center ban petitions have sought out a judge’s ruling that the documents are legally improper. El Dorado filed its lawsuit July 14, Edgerton filed Aug. 4 and Emporia filed Aug. 9.
Edgerton is a small city of about 1,750 people in the southwest corner of Johnson County, part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, filed suit in a challenge of a citizen petition that asked for a vote on banning new data centers in the town. More than 200 signatures had been collected but Edgerton City leaders responded by claiming the petition contains inaccurate claims and does not meet legal requirements. They want a judge to review the petition before it goes to votes.
“A special election with the ballot measure presented would enshrine fact findings and statements that are not true and pretend to powers that the City does not have,” Edgerton said in its lawsuit, reported the News.
Just like residents of towns and cities in Oklahoma, residents of Edgerton raised questions about water use, noise and the impact on the community.
Cities argue for invalidity of petitions
The lawsuits attack the petitions in a few different areas, but the main aspect of what they’re seeking is a legal declaration of whether the petitions are legislative or administrative in nature.
“An ordinance that makes new law is legislative, while an ordinance that executes an existing law is administrative,” El Dorado’s lawsuit says, using text from McAlister v. City of Fairway, a 2009 Kansas Supreme Court ruling.
The cities assert that the petitions are administrative, meaning the state statute governing citizen-led petitions don’t apply.
Edgerton City Attorney Todd Luckman issued a statement about naming some of the petition organizers in the city lawsuit.
“This is because Kansas law requires that people whose interests would be affected by the decision must be named,” he said. “They were the primary individuals/organization that were behind the petition. They have an obvious interest in what happens in court, and we wanted to make sure they were notified and involved in that process. Anyone who signed the petition can also request that they be added if they would like to be heard in court.”
