Festus City Council members voted unanimously Monday to annex several parcels of land totaling about 240 acres north of Hwy. 67 and west of Hwy. CC. A data center developer, CRG of St. Louis, has expressed interest in the property, City Administrator Greg Camp said.
CRG president Chris McKee said in a written statement that a data center would provide a windfall of tax revenue for the local community.
“This project is expected to generate an estimated $30-40 million in local tax revenue (each year), providing transformational benefits to the city of Festus, the Festus R-6 School District, Jefferson College, the (Joachim-Plattin) Ambulance District and Jefferson County,” McKee said. “In addition, we anticipate a multi-year buildout averaging more than 1,000 high-paying union construction jobs and between 200 and 300 (permanent) direct operational jobs.”
He said the estimated tax revenue would be generated through real and personal property taxes on power usage and sales.
McKee also said that CRG is in the early stages of developing a potential data center in Festus.
On Oct. 27, council members approved regulations governing data centers, saying they wanted to be prepared for the possibility of a data center being developed in the city.
The newly annexed property includes parcels owned by the Randy Dietrich Trust, et al of Tempe, Ariz.; by Mark and Lucinda Hammon of Festus; and by Fadler Investment Holdings of Festus, according to Jefferson County records. The Dietrich Trust owns the largest of the parcels at 199 acres.
The annexations were voluntary ones, which means the property owners petitioned the city to be annexed into the Festus city limits. A voluntary annexation does not require a public vote, just a vote of the board that governs the city. An involuntary annexation, on the other hand, requires a public vote of those who live in the city, as well as a separate vote of any residents who live in the area to be annexed.
The properties Festus annexed Monday currently are zoned N-1, “non-urban district” zoning, and will need a different zoning if a data center is to be built there, Camp said.
He said during a staff report prior to Monday’s vote that the annexation is just the beginning of an involved process before a data center could be built on the property.
“Festus has received interest from a data center developer in the property applying for annexation,” he said. “This annexation is the beginning of a long process. A site plan has not yet been submitted, and the developer is not yet working with an end user on this site. The developer has applied to rezone the property.
”Unlike other developments that have been in the news, we have not been asked to sign any nondisclosure agreements. Because we moved proactively to update our data center zoning laws, Festus is on strong footing to move through this process and has effective guardrails to support positive developments for our community.”
Camp said the next step in the process is for CRG to obtain the appropriate zoning for a data center.
“That (rezoning request) will be in front of P&Z on (Nov. 20) and council on (Nov 24),” he said.
Prior to Monday’s vote, Ward 4 Councilman Mike Cook responded to scoffing noises from the crowd and said the city will follow the regulations it recently established for data centers.
“Before we put the cart before the horse, I apologize, I heard some snickers, so let’s just clear the air,” Cook said. “If we get a proposed development, we will have open houses. We will disseminate the information. There is good development (of data centers), and there is bad. The answers will be in the open house. They can talk to the appropriate parties and the professionals who deal with this, besides what we have researched and done as well.”
Camp concurred, saying the city’s new regulations for data centers include sound and light studies, community meetings, notice to property owners within 1,000 feet of the property line, among other requirements.
“So, we will fully comply, like I said, with the guardrails, the rules and regulations we’ve established,” he said.
Jefferson County Executive Dennis Gannon has announced publicly that he welcomes data centers to the county, arguing that they could bring much-needed revenue to the county.
However, some proposed data centers in the region have been met with public opposition. In August, developers withdrew plans for a proposed hyperscale data center called Project Cumulus proposed for St. Charles due to public backlash. In addition, hundreds of St. Louis residents attended a town hall meeting Oct. 14 to oppose a proposed data center near the vacant Armory entertainment center in the city.