Festus officials rejected demands made in a petition and letter calling for a public vote prohibiting large-scale data centers, saying the city doesn’t have the ability to put a referendum on the ballot.
Those seeking the public vote are not satisfied with the response.
CRG of St. Louis has said it plans to develop a data center on property north of Hwy. 67 and west of Hwy. CC in Festus. As those plans became public, opposition immediately arose.
Opponents of a potential Festus data center development project presented a petition Feb. 9 with more than 1,400 signatures along with a letter to the City Council, demanding the council enact an ordinance calling for a special election for a public vote on a ballot measure to ban such projects for 10 years.
The proposed ballot language in the petition states, “Shall the city of Festus adopt an ordinance prohibiting hyperscale data centers in the city limits, requiring voter approval for any proposed hyperscale data center project, and providing that the policy may not be changed without a vote of the people for 10 years?”
Brian Malone, the city attorney, said in a written statement Festus cannot put such a referendum on the ballot.
“To answer (Leader) questions, there is no way for the Festus City Council to modify its ordinances in a way that would allow initiative or referendum petitions to enact or repeal any zoning regulations (or to enact/repeal any other regulations),” Malone said.
In a prior written statement Malone released on behalf of the city, he said that what the petition asks voters to approve – to repeal or modify certain zoning regulations in Festus – cannot happen.
According to the statement, the Missouri statute covering the situation “requires that zoning regulations may only be adopted, amended or repealed after review by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission and approval of an ordinance by the City Council, after a public hearing, and after public notice has been published in a newspaper. For that reason, an ordinance enacting or amending Festus’ zoning regulations by ballot proposition would not be permitted by Missouri law.”
His statement also said the state constitutional provision referenced in the petition only applies to state statutes and “does not apply to municipal ordinances.”
Malone cites the case State ex rel. Chastain in which the Missouri Court of Appeals stated there is no constitutional right to enact or repeal municipal codes by initiative or referendum.
“Even if a statute authorized Festus to enact or repeal ordinances via initiative petition or referendum, enacting a zoning ordinance would not be eligible for initiative or referendum, because the process would conflict with the mandatory procedures in Chapter 89 (of state statutes),” he said. “For these reasons, the Festus City Council cannot act on the petition presented on Feb. 9, 2026.”
He said Mayor Sam Richards and council members had been notified of his comments and analysis of the proposed petition.
Erica Carter of Festus, who submitted the petition and demand letter to Festus officials at the Feb. 9 council meeting, said she is unmoved by Malone’s statements.
“I think the document (the demand letter and petition) speaks for itself, and the council and mayor could change the ordinances to allow citizens to place this on the ballot,” Carter said.
In addition, she said she believes all elected Festus officials will have a difficult time maintaining their seats.
“I do think there is a team working to recall the four council members and the mayor who are not up for election (on the April 7 ballot),” Carter said. “I think there will be a large turnout at the next municipal election because people are so mad about this. I think the people will replace the council members up for election with sensible council members who will listen to their constituents.”
CRG is the data center development arm for Clayco. CRG President Chris McKee has said CRG would develop the property, and then a data center company would operate it, although no operator has yet been identified. Clayco is the same company that in August 2025 withdrew its plans to develop a 440-acre data center in St. Charles following a public outcry against it.
The City Council on Oct. 27 approved regulations that would govern any potential data centers developed in Festus. On Nov. 10, the City Council voted to annex some land where the data center project is now proposed, and then on Nov. 24, council members voted to rezone parts of the annexed land, as well as neighboring tracts that already were inside the city limits.
Opponents have criticized Festus officials by saying they have not been transparent in the data center development process, with the critics pointing to emails among officials, as well as emails between city officials dating back to August 2025 and CRG representatives, as proof that the officials have, at best, skirted state Sunshine Law requirements.
Critics also have repeatedly said they are concerned about the amount of electricity and water a data center would use, as well as pollution and health concerns over a data center.