TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Shawnee County officials laid out details about a potential data center and battery energy storage site and the application process for those projects in a media briefing Friday afternoon.
“Once that application is filed, the review process starts. [Joni] Thadoni’s department and my department look through that application letter by letter, sentence by sentence,” said Rich Eckert, Shawnee County counselor. “Typically, these things move fairly fast but this isn’t typical. So I expect this process to take longer than it usually does.”
Eckert said the county is not leaning one way or the other on any data center or battery storage site.
He said no applications have come in yet for either project, but confirmed interest from developers and expects at least two applications over the next two months.
Eckert said the property being considered for both projects is already zoned for industrial use.
He added that county commissioners will not offer a tax incentive to a developer and no such offer has been requested from Shawnee County. However, a statewide incentive for data centers passed in 2025.
Any development would require a conditional use permit, which would further stipulate how the property is to be used, such as light and noise pollution standards.
Eckert said the conditional nature of the permit would also serve as a leverage and enforcement mechanism to prompt compliance with standards and regulations.
He also confirmed there will be opportunities for public input to both the Board of County Commissioners and the Planning Commission.
Eckert said the selling point for these projects in Shawnee County is tax revenue.
“To be blunt about it, tax revenue. Absolutely. One of the biggest issues that we face is our mill levy,” Eckert said. “So, we grow the economy, we grow economic development with the hopes that it will return to us with mill levy with the hopes that it will return to us, the mill levy with hopes of keeping the mill levy low or even lower we hope.”
Eckert said the annual water usage for a single data center building is estimated at 240,000 gallons. He said developments usually have more than one building.
He also clarified that the county does not regulate existing energy rates, but did mention that Evergy has indicated it would hold developers responsible for additional costs incurred by a data center.
The Board of Shawnee County Commissioners meets again on Thursday, June 11, at 9 a.m.
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