City of Springfield Data Center Engagement Session #1

By , August 28, 2026

The City of Springfield held its first datacenter public engagement session on Thursday, August 27. The second session is on Tuesday, September 1 at the Library Center’s Hatch Auditorium.

Here’s my report on the first session, together with a list of questions that need answers before the City makes any decisions.

Thursday’s event was very tightly controlled, limited, and unsatisfying; only 183 people were allowed in the space, with many others turned away. For Tuesday, the Hatch Auditorium has a 500-person capacity in one configuration (but they might choose a more limiting arrangement).

On Thursday, the “subject matter experts” from city staff were woefully unprepared, and unable to answer even the most basic questions. Some were unable to speak audibly in the conditions; my section was moderated by Jonathan Allen, who was often completely inaudible. (Most city staff did not wear name tags, unlike the staff at the Mayor’s listening session last week.)

Before the Thursday session, members of PSL shared a great three-page handout with specific questions focusing on the six subject areas the city chose for discussion. I’ve included many of those questions below.

I’m sending this to the city council and staff today, in the hope that some of them will be better prepared for Tuesday’s session.

Background on Data Centers & Springfield:

Like any city, Springfield has many locations that could considered “data centers,” including:

  • “Telecom” or “carrier” rooms or closets in many office buildings, or in adjacent accessory structures.
  • “Enterprise” data centers for larger businesses like a hospital or university.
  • “Colocation” or “wholesale” data centers, where an IT company hosts servers and connections for
    multiple businesses.

I’m aware of only one colocation data center in Springfield, operated by Bluebird Fiber, inside the Springfield Underground limestone caves in the northeast.

Any data center might be designed to provide redundancy to insure steady power, internet connectivity, and cooling for computer servers and telecom equipment. Each layer of redundancy adds complexity, costs, and risks — and more types of equipment, including batteries and generators, along with specializing monitoring and switching equipment.

Nested inside any data center, there may be smaller data centers (such a dedicated suite for an enterprise customer), and usually one or more telecom/carrier suites or closets.

There are no special zoning requirements for a “data center,” but the specific equipment and electrical and cooling configurations would determine proper zoning and permit requirements. Any facility that operates properly under existing permits and zoning might plan upgrades that require new permits or zoning changes.

A “hyperscale” data center uses a much higher density of equipment, power, and connectivity, in a uniform configuration, owned and managed by a single provider. Because of this density, the same space that could be used for a colocation data center, might require ten times as much power and cooling capacity, while also generating more noise and waste than a hyperscale datacenter.

Only one application has ever been submitted (now withdrawn) for a “possible” hyperscale data center (at 2900 S. National Avenue); it was ludicrously incomplete. At the end of this page are PSL’s questions for Trent Overhue, who was the applicant for this data center project. (The city now says that the only active application for that property is for a veterinary clinic, not a data center.)

Nevertheless, the city council adopted a 120-day moratorium on any new data center applications, and scheduled these sessions to begin planning for new regulations.

I honestly don’t expect any plausible proposal for a hyperscale data center inside Springfield’s city limits, and I don’t think the city expects this, either.

I expect that the city will adopt a set of regulations that appear to make a hyperscale data center theoretically possible, but practically impossible, except perhaps on the federal prison-hospital property; I don’t know if the city could regulate such a use.

Springfield’s “public engagement sessions”:

City staff identified six “central questions,” which I list below, but my own concerns don’t fit neatly into those six topics.

1. Electricity: “How can the City and City Utilities safeguard customers from potential increases in electric utility costs as data centers consider locating here?” (City Utilities, Amy, CFO, and Warren, VP Operations.)

  • Amy emphasized that any hyperscale data center would need to pay “up front” for all infrastructure needed. That would include any capacity upgrades, transmission lines, and substations.
  • The new facility would also pay a special “large load rate” which would be higher than existing users; they would also need to pay a minimum billing amount even if they did not actually use the
    amount of electricity expected. She assured us that there would be no “stranded costs” that might later impact other customers.
  • Warren explained that before agreeing to provide services to such a facility, the customer would need to pay for a “system impact study” for City Utilities, and a separate study if the impact would affect the larger regional power grid.
  • Q: Who exactly would perform “system impact studies,” and who would define the scope and sufficiency of the studies? Would the customer pay an independent consulting firm?
  • Q: How might other hyperscale datacenters across the regional power grid have ripple effects on power availability in Springfield?
  • Q: How would CU provide connectivity for a facility to multiple grids or substations?
  • Q: How would CU deal with facilities having some independent power generation capacity (solar or wind, as well as generators)? Failure of auto shutoff for energy-to-grid in an outage?
  • Q: Who would evaluate and plan for voltage, frequency, or oscillation risks? What monitoring (beyond the CU handoff/demarc) could be included in contract, and would CU face additional costs to implement?
  • Q: Might infrastructure requirements require easements or eminent domain from neighbors, for transmission lines?
  • Q: What deposits, bond, insurance would be required?
  • Q: Compliance: What if usage exceeds expectation? If utility bills aren’t getting paid, how long would the facility need to go before shutoff? (How much might it cost CU, after deposit is depleted?)
  • Q: Decommissioning: if the facility closes, what costs would CU face for de-commissioning, including removal of excess transmission lines?
  • Q: Would CU accept guarantees from lenders or other third parties in lieu of other obligations?
  • Q: [PSL] The North American Electric Reliability Corporation is writing new reliability standards specifically because computational loads create electrical behaviors that existing standards do not fully address. Why should Springfield authorize new computational loads before those standards are finalized? If it does, will the city require every project to meet the final NERC standards or stricter
    local equivalents?
  • Q: [PSL] What maximum percentage of Springfield’s available generation capacity, peak demand or reserve margin is the city willing to dedicate to data centers?
  • Q: [PSL] If a data center claims that its workload is flexible, will Springfield require it to curtail before residential customers are asked to conserve during peak conditions? How might the city or CU enforce such an agreement or requirement?

2. Water: “How can the City and CU protect community water resources in regards to both quality and quantity?”
(City Utilities, Krista Shirt)

  • “Springfield is drought-prone” while other nearby communities are not. The city may need to add capacity (pipelines) to access more water from sources we have rights to, as demand increases.
  • It’s possible, but unknown, if a portion of a data center’s water needs could be met using treated-but-non-potable water; currently, that’s dumped into creeks. (Why isn’t it used for golf courses, parks, etc? Costs to add gray-water pipes?)
  • It is unknown if CU has ever “shut off” water or sewer services to any business customer due to persistent violations. (When I asked the question, I expected to hear about a slaughterhouse or factory.) RSMo (Missouri Revised Statutes) Title XXV § 393.015, 250.236.
  • Q: What on-site water storage capacity is expected, allowed, recommended? Might the facility be asked to pay for a storage tank, on-site or nearby, that CU could draw from?
  • Q: Might infrastructure requirements require easements or eminent domain from neighbors, for water pipes or other needs?
  • Q: As construction and operations begin, how could other customers feel secure that surges in water use would not impact other customers? What specific surges might be impactful, such as flushing/clearing the cooling system or facility pipes?
  • Q: What consequences, apart from cost, for water usage in excess of expectation or contract?
  • Q: What consequences, beyond fines, for improper discharge practices, such as diesel fuel or other toxic material sent into sewer or on property?
  • Q: [PSL] The Environmental Protection Sarvice documented a data-center cornmunity that eventually needed specialized treatment and an entirely new reuse utility because ordinary municipal wastewater treatment was not designed for the dissolved solids generated by cooling operations. What will Springfield do to prevent this waste from entering its sanitary sewe? Will every applicant have
    to publicly identify its cooling fluids, frestment chemicals, blowdown composition and disposal method before approval? How will CU monitor for changes?
  • Q: If the facility transports water by truck (during construction or otherwise), how might that impact road infrastructure, sound, vibration, and safety nearby?
  • Q: [PSL] Will an enforceable monitoring plan be in place so contamination can be detected before it migrates off-site? Who chooses and pays the independent hydrogeologist?
  • Q: [PSL] When a developer says “closed loop,” will Springfield require a complete public water balance showing the water required for initial filling, commissioning and flushing, makeup water, evaporation, maintenance, emergency operations and fire suppression in gallons per day and gallons per year at full load?
  • Q: [PSL] Berkeley Lab found more than a 10,000-fold variation in the water consumed by different data-center workloads. Will the city therefore refuse generic industry averages and require project-specific, independently verified water-consumption figures for the exact servers, cooling technology, and projected utilization proposed in Springfield?
  • Q: [PSL] Because Springfield sits in karst terrain where the US Geological Survey says groundwater can move rapidly and surface water and groundwater substantially interact, will every data center be required to undergo an independent site-specific karst and hydrogeological investigation before zoning approval?
  • Q: [PSL] If any data center proposes a private groundwater well, what pumping test, analysis, and nearby-well monitoring will Springfield require? Will residents have an enforceable remedy if/when their wells are affected?

3.Sound (Nuisance): “What can the City do to ensure sound is not an issue as it relates to potential data centers?” (Unknown city employee.)

  • Sound mitigation would generally be required, including sound walls and setbacks, which vary based on topography. (Asked, he confirmed that trees or mounds/hills might also be used.)
  • He was unable to articulate any specific guidance, sound wall height, or distances.
  • The former Cox Medical location at 2900 N. National Ave. (where a preliminary application for a data center was submitted but withdrawn) is across the street from an apartment complex; the most likely mitigation would be a sound wall.
  • He noted that sound carries differently, depending on time of day, time of year, and other factors (humidity? ).
  • The city could require specific monitoring of sound levels, and impose limits. It’s unclear how (or how well) those could be enforced.
  • Q: What studies have reviewed specific sound issues identified with data centers? For facilities with backup generators? For facilities with large battery banks?
  • Q: How would monitoring be done? Who would have access to the monitoring equipment and data, and how?
  • Q: What exact decibels, frequencies and ranges would define the limits? Will this include all sound ranges and vibrations that are perceived by any people or animals, or which might affect plants or
    specific types of property? What about specific sounds (hum, beep-de-beep, warble, alarm)?
  • Q: What enforceable limits would apply for sound generated during required monthly testing of generators? For emergency generator operation during a power outage?
  • Q: [PSL] Will Springfield adopt enforceable numerical nighttime and daytime noise limits measured at residential receptors and property lines, or will developers merely be required to show that their project is “not expected to create a nuisance?
  • Q: [PSL] Will the city require acoustic testing that captures tonal and low-frequency components using appropriate frequency-band analysis wherever transformers, chillers, fans or other equipment could produce persistent hum?
  • Q: [PSL] Will every applicant have to fund an independent pre-construction acoustic baseline and a predictive model showing conditions at the nearest homes, apartments, hospitals, schools and other sensitive siles before the project can be approved?
  • Q: [PSL] Will noise compliance be tested under the worst credible operating condition rather than under a convenient partial-load test conducted on a mild day?
  • Q: [PSL] Will the city establish minimum setbacks from residences and other sensitive uses based on independent acoustic modeling before permitting, or is Springfield prepared to allow a developer to use walls and after-the-fact mitigation as an experiment on the people already living there?

4. Land Use & Facilities: “What can the City do to ensure neighborhoods and green spaces can continue to thrive when considering the development of data centers?”
(Justin Creighton, assistant director of planning; sometimes inaudible)

Land use is about location, distance,buffer zones (including what’s in those zones), and decommissioning.

  • I asked: given the known issues, are there actually any plausible locations in Springfield for a hyperscale data center? He would not answer.
  • I asked: what if Greene County were to consider a hyperscale data center just outside Springfield’s city limits? He said we’d try to negotiate an agreement.
  • Q: [PSL] Will Springfield define a data center by what the facility actually does rather than by whatever label the applicant chooses, such as “data processing,” “research,” “office,” “telecommunications” or “high-performance computing”?
  • Q: [PSL] Will the ordinance contain an explicit anti-evasion clause stating that a facility meeting Springfield’s data-center definition cannot obtain approval by being classified as an office, warehouse, research facility, telecommunications facility, utility use or accessory component of a mixed-use project?
  • Q: [PSL] The city of Peculiar chose to remove data centers from its zoning code and its current officials report no regret; the community has continued adding residents and ordinary commercial development. What evidence does Springfield have that it must accept this particular land use to achieve economic growth?
  • Q: [PSL] Will any significant increase in electrical demand, server floor area, cooling capacity, battery capacity or generator capacity trigger a new land-use review, so that a small project cannot win approval and then gradually transform into a materially different industrial facility?
  • Q: [PSL] Will Springfield require affiliated parcels, modular buildings and phased expansions serving a common computing operation to be evaluated as one project for zoning and environmental purposes, rather than allowing a campus to be divided into pieces that individually remain below regulatory thresholds?

5. Safety: “What can the City require to ensure safe operation of data centers and ancillary facilities?”
(Springfield Fire Department, Chief David Pennington)

  • David gave a very confident presentation.
  • I asked about the SFD’s experience with battery fires, such as Tesla vehicles and PowerWall batteries. He said they have had at least one Tesla fire, and some combustion of laptop computers. (Another attendee reported being told that an SFD person recently attended a special seminar on dealing with battery fires.)
  • SFD’s jurisdiction includes the Springfield Underground and the Bluebird Data Center there.
  • I asked about the risks of battery fires, generator fires, and diesel fuel leakage; he was aware of these. They would deal with any facility’s special systems or materials, and will conduct annual
    inspections.
  • I asked whether the SFD or SPD could request or require access to some of the cameras that are pervasive in this type of data center, such as the outdoor or corridor cameras? Wouldn’t that be helpful when they receive any reports? He did not believe they could require access.
  • He mentioned that he’d reviewed a report on datacenters in Singapore, which has the highest density of data centers in the world.
  • Q: Do you have the budget to deal with these risks?
  • Q: [PSL] Before approval, will the Springfield Fire Department receive and independently review the exact battery chemistry and capacity, generator configuration, onsite fuel volume, cooling-fluid inventory, and emergency shutdown procedures for every proposed data center?
  • Q: [PSL] Where lithium-ion or other substantial energy-storage systems are proposed, will Springfield require all applicable full-scale fire and thermal-runaway testing documentation and compliance with the relevant fire and energy-storage standards rather than relying only on equipment-level certifications?
  • Q: [PSL] Will Springfield require a site-specific pre-incident plan and regular joint drills involving the operator, Fire Department. City Utilities and emergency management before the facility begins operating?
  • Q: [PSL] Given Greene County’s documented karst vulnerability, what system will contain contaminated fire-suppression water, coolant, fuel or other runoff during an emergency so that an industrial accident cannot simply become a groundwater incident?
  • Q: [PSL] Will Springfield require sufficient liability insurance, environmental impairment coverage, bonds or other financial assurance to pay for a worst-case fire, contamination event, emergency response and off-site property damage without leaving residents or the city pursuing a shell LLC after the fact?

6. Community Benefits: “What areas/programs/services in our community would you like to see benefit from additional revenue?” (Amanda)

  • It was clear during this segment that the city has absolutely no concept of what might be sought from a hypothetical hyperscale data center, nor whether any new revenue might be available for such
    benefits.
  • For some developments, a legally-binding Community Benefit Agreement is required.
  • A CBA might require construction or payment for new community infrastructure such as roads or road improvements, among many other options. Some of these costs may come from anticipated sales tax revenue, employment taxes, property taxes, or utility taxes. In some cases, the CBA might include specific tax-revenue “assurances.”
  • I mentioned that Missouri exempts nearly all equipment purchased for a data center from sales tax, and also does not tax any of the services used or sold by data centers to their customers.
  • The CBA might also include specific monitoring and transparency provisions. (I noted “noise, discharge, economy, toxins,” but I don’t know if those were actually mentioned in the session.)
  • One attendee mentioned that a relative in Indiana had received a financial benefit because of fees or taxes generated by a large data center in that community.
  • Someone asked whether a CBA might include remediation work to address actual or expected environmental impacts (I didn’t note the answer.)
  • Q: Could the city require that union labor be used in any construction jobs? (She did not answer.)
  • Q: [PSL] The Big Question: Springfield can prohibit new data centers, why should residents be required to accept any additional risk to our utility system, water, neighborhoods, or health unless the city can first demonstrate a public benefit large enough to justify those risks?

7. Financial & Solvency Concerns (Mark Welch)

  • Enron. That’s the most important keyword when evaluating AI
    data centers.
  • How many of the hyperscale data centers are owned, operated, controlled and contracted entirely through Enron-style style LLC & REIT shell companies, which could default on all environmental, power, water & community commitments?
  • ​City staff should never sign any non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), and the city must demand full
    public discloure of relevant information.
  • ​The identity of each legal property owner, tenant, sub-tenant, lender, guarantor, insurer must be disclosed, and binding agreements obtained for each person or entity whose obligations are relied upon by the city.
  • ​An agreement with “Amazon Missouri 65801 LLC” is absolutely not an obligation of Amazon, and might not include Amazon as an owner, partner, customer, or affiliate.
  • ​No transfers of responsibilities to new/different entities should be considered without bond & proof of adequate capital & insurance.​
  • ​Who is promising what, to whom?
  • ​Ignore claims about the identity of “customer(s).”
  • ​All the big-tech companies (FAANG: Facebook/Meta Apple Amazon Nvidia Google/Alphabet Microsoft Oracle OpenAI Anthropic etc.) are customers, investors, guarantors, and competitors of each
    other. Each buys, sell, and trade equipment and computing services through multiple exchange relationships which include thousands of other customers.
  • ​The US government now also holds equity in some of these companies.
  • ​What insurance & bond requirements, legal liability, hold-harmless demands? Who can enforce? What happens if the insurance or bond is not renewed?
  • ​​​What if the facility defaults on payment of utility bills, taxes, etc.?
  • ​​What happens when someone attempts to shift ownership/control/liability to different entities?
  • ​Ask about all infrastructure requirements for the intended use of the property, during planning + construction (phases) + startup + operation.
  • ​Overhead wiring, rights-of-way and trenching for pipes and conduit, water supply and discharge, drainage, grading, permanent and temporary roadways for construction.
  • ​​What services are required but conditional?
  • ​​Anticipate shutdown/closure options (recycling, ewaste, clearing/cleanup, etc.)
  • ​If a datacenter is not required to have the same parking and plumbing fixture counts as another use (industrial, commercial), then what happens if the property is later converted to a different use?
  • ​​What specific monitoring and supervision is required?
  • ​How can the city be assured that only qualified persons (such as licensed electricians) perform specialized work at all times?

8. Generators:

  • ​These can be noisy and dirty.
  • ​A backup generator must generally be tested at least once per month.
  • ​A backup generator may run for many hours or days during a power emergency, while fuel is available.
  • ​They require fuel (usually diesel, sometimes natural gas).
  • ​A diesel fuel tank is itself a hazard.
  • ​Diesel spills or leaks will occur.
  • ​At some facilities, employees may load fuel from the tank into company or personal vehicles.
  • ​In a crisis, diesel fuel may be sold, with or without proper permission.

9. Batteries:

  • ​There are different types of batteries, used in many different configurations.
  • ​Each type of battery has unique chemicals and properties, requiring different fire-suppression chemicals, techniques, and equipment. Using the wrong solution makes the problem worse.

10. Special Equipment:

  • ​Automatic shutoff:
    if any on-site power source (batteries, generator, solar panels, or other), is also connected to the power circuit for utility power, there must be both an automatic disconnect (triggered when utility power fails) and a manual disconnect (accessible to utility staff). [Please don’t electrocute the utility worker who’s working on that line.]
  • ​Automatic transfer switch: if utility power fails, this switches on power from the local batteries, and may also triggers the startup sequence for generators.

11. Facility Access:

  • ​Most data centers have fewer employers than most other industrial or commercial properties of the same size. Small data centers might not be staffed 24/7.
  • ​But the equipment in a data center requires maintenance.
  • ​Servers, hard disk drives, RAM memory and GPU chips used in AI computers will fail and need replacement, often by outside contractors.
  • ​This means road traffic to physically access the facility, triggering safety concerns.
  • Some contractors may behave badly.

12. About Mark J. Welch:

Mark J. Welch is a former journalist, attorney, teacher, and data center salesperson. From 2011-2021, Mark worked for Hurricane Electric, which converted two former factories in Fremont, California into colocation data centers. HE is also one of the world’s largest global internet bandwidth providers, selling connectivity globally at 320 major exchange points and at telecom
data center in more than 200 cities worldwide.

13. PSL’s questions for Trent Overhue, who submitted the application for a 10-megawatt data center at 2900 S. National Avenue:

  • Q: [PSL] If Overhue and city planners have been working together for months while hiding this from the public until the Sunshine Law was utilized, why should we trust developers or city officials to be forthcoming now about the impact of data centers?
  • Q: [PSL] You said that we have to compete with China. Admittedly, China is way ahead of us on technology in general. But they have four times the population and the US has seven times as many data centers as they do. They also put them in deserts away from populations and where it is more expensive to bring water in. They do this to protect the quality of life from their citizens. Shouldn’t we learn to be more judicious and efficient, like the Chinese, rather than simply build more data centers that we don’t need?
  • Q: [PSL] City staff say they were discussing data centers for months and the South National concept came through a pre-application process before most nearby residents knew it was being considered. Will you consent today to the public release of every non-trade-secret site plan, load estimate, water estimate, and other technical document you or your companies provided to Springfield or City Utilities concerning 2900 S. National? If not, what exactly should remain secret from the people who live around it?
  • Q: [PSL] What is your exact ownership, management or financial relationship to NSI A1 LLC. NSI Investments and each Lumon entity associated with the Marshfield or Springfield concepts? Will you
    publicly identify the beneficial owners and controlling parties so residents know who would ultimately own, operate and profit from these facilities?
  • Q: [PSL] How many operational data centers have you and the specific engineering and operating team responsible successfully built and operated, for how many years? Can the public inspect their safety and compliance records?
  • Q: [PSL] Will you publish stamped final plans specifying the exact building area, maximum megawatt load, cooling-fluid chemistry, annual water consumption, battery capacity and generator capacity instead of asking residents to reconcile changing public descriptions themselves?
  • Q: [PSL] You have said NDAs can make early public disclosure difficult. Who, specifically, is bound by an NDA connected to the Marshfield project or any Springfield dala-center concept, what categories of information are being withheld? Will you release any governmental body, public utility or public official from contractual confidentiality so they can answer residents fully?
  • Q: [PSL] For 2900 S. National you have described closed-loop cooling that would not rely on ordinary city water consumption. What is the exact initial source of the cooling water, how many gallons are needed to fill and commission the system, what fluid and additives circulate through it, what are the annual makeup losses, and what happens to that fluid when equipment is fushed, serviced or replaced?
  • Q: [PSL] There are community reports that fire or thermal incidents have occurred at the Marshfield construction site. Have there been any fires, smoke events, battery events, electrical faults, overheating incidents or fire-department responses at the Marshfield site?How many, on what dates, what caused them, and will you release the incident reports?
  • Q: [PSL] Your Marshfield project has been publicly described as roughly 10 MW with up to about 15 permanent jobs. Why should a community dedicate that much electrical capacity and accept the associated land-use, safety and infrastructure obligations for that level of permanent employment? Why should Springfield accept those risks at all when it has the option to say no?

14. Links:

16. “Local Guidelines for Data Center Development” (Urban Land
Institute Data Center Product Council; Hannah Miet) https://knowledge.uli.org/-/media/files/research-reports/2024/uli-data-center-whitepaper_hm_2024-11-12_final-final-round.pdf

  • ​​​p.7-8: Reasonable explanation of the difference between data center types (corporate/enterprise,
    telecom/carrier, colocation/retail/wholesale, and hyperscale/AI).
  • ​​​p.15: “Power purchase agreements (PPAs): long-term contracts with renewable energy providers (the sellers) to purchase electricity from specific wind or solar farms.”
  • ​​​p.17 and 21: Sound mitigation
  • ​​​p.19: “Regulations developed for office or warehouse uses often impose excessive parking and plumbing fixture counts on data centers, which necessitate variances and complicate the planning process.” Yes, but: what if the property is later converted to a different use?
  • ​​​p.19: Fire Department considerations: Battery fires? Diesel fuel storage; generators.
  • ​​​p.26: Glossary of terms.

17. “AI Infrastructure Community Evaluation Framework (AICEF)”
(appears to be a crude AI-generated template; the checklist on page 12 might be
useful).
https://www.lindenwood.edu/files/future-caucus/ai-community-evaluation-aicef3.pdf

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