photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Several Leavenworth County residents attended a community meeting opposing the proposed data center development, Project Bluestem, on Sunday, April 26, 2026.

Plans for a hyperscale data center on more than 1,000 acres south of Tonganoxie could be hitting a snag following two Leavenworth County meetings Wednesday in Leavenworth.

A push to extend a moratorium on data centers in unincorporated areas of the county failed Aug. 5 at a Leavenworth County Commission meeting, but the board now plans to revisit a hold on any plans until after the new commission takes office in January.

The 90-day moratorium was set to end last week, but Commissioner Mike Stieben proposed an extension of the moratorium on applications through Jan. 31 with a resolution that Commissioner Mike Smith seconded.

Fellow Commissioners Vanessa Reid, Willie Dove and Jeff Culbertson voted against the measure and it failed, 3-2.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Stieben again proposed considering a moratorium that would prevent any “lame-duck” decisions before three new commissioners join in a few months. This time, Stieben’s motion passed, 4-1, with Reid voting against. Dove and Culbertson joined Stieben and Smith in voting to revisit the moratorium. Reid did not vote in person last week, as she did so via teleconference. Culbertson said, and Dove agreed, that he was open to a future vote because Reid wasn’t at the meeting in person.

Both Stieben and Smith will be leaving the board in January, as neither sought re-election. Smith instead pursued a run for Lieutenant Governor as running mate with gubernatorial candidate Stacy Rogers, but the team lost in last week’s primary as Ty Masterson and Jeff Klemp won the Republican primary for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, respectively. Stieben lost his statehouse bid after losing by fewer than 30 votes to Republican incumbent Lance Neely in the Kansas House District 42 primary last week.

Culbertson also did not seek re-election, so his term will end in January.

Project Bluestem is the proposed massive 600-watt data center on what currently is Tailgate Ranch, which is south of Tonganoxie Business Park and near the Tonganoxie/Eudora interchange on Interstate-70. The site is about 15 miles from Lawrence. Earlier this year, Cloverleaf told the Journal-World that the center could require up to 1.2 gigawatts of power. That’s almost the equivalent of how much energy it takes to power San Francisco.

“That’s what we’re considering for the site in terms of size,” Aaron Bilyeu, chief development officer of Cloverleaf, said in April. “But until we confirm that with the utility, we won’t know for sure.”

Planning and Zoning extends discussion

County planning and zoning members voted, 8-1, to hold off on any regulation recommendations for data centers until after having a joint work session with the county commission before the next planning and zoning meeting in September. Board members also would like to have public comment during the session.

An overflow crowd was at the meeting Wednesday night, which also took place at commission chambers in the Leavenworth County Courthouse.

Citizens Against Bluestem members spoke at the meeting and voiced ongoing concerns about noise and air pollution, health concerns and major strains on infrastructure. The organization started as a data center watchdog group on Facebook.

Project Bluestem, meanwhile, offered an informational open house in June in Tonganoxie. More about the proposed project can be found at bluestemdatacenter.com.

According to the site, Cloverleaf Infrastructure is developing the project and is “committed to environmental stewardship and protecting the community against potential adverse effects.” The project also calls for closed-loop cooling systems.

As planning and zoning members noted, no applications have been filed yet for the data center.

The next county commission meeting is 9 a.m. Wednesday; the next planning and zoning meeting is 5:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at the courthouse, 300 Walnut St. in Leavenworth.