The Festus City Council on Monday night set the wheels in motion for improvements to the city’s water and sewage systems related to a proposed data center project.
By a 5-1 vote, the council passed a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co. to study and design needed water and pumping improvements near the proposed development. The contract was not to exceed $140,000.
Ward 4 Councilmen Rick Belleville sought a 60-day postponement of the vote and cast the lone “no” vote on the resolution. Councilman Dave Boyer of Ward 1 did not attend, and a Ward 2 council seat vacated in April remains open.
In late 2025, CRG announced its plan to develop a hyperscale data center on 361 acres north of Hwy. 67 and west of Hwy. CC. CRG, which is the St. Louis-based data center development arm for Clayco, has estimated the cost of developing the facility at $6 billion. In the Festus project, CRG would develop the property, and then a data center company would operate it, although no operator has yet been identified.
Michael Christopher, the Festus public works director, said the resolution would authorize Burns & McDonnell “to provide initial findings and design use for the engineering for approximately 7,000 linear feet of new 12-inch or 16-inch diameter from the city of Festus meter vault to the distribution system, miscellaneous small diameter water main improvements, engineering (work for construction of an) approximately 1 million to 1.5 million gallons per day booster pump station and a half-million to 1-million-gallon elevated storage tank.”
Under the resolution, the cost of the design work is reimbursable as part of the infrastructure development and funding agreement between Festus and CRG.
Jeff Barnard of Burns & McDonnell told the council the improvements would need to be done to accommodate the needs of the data center, particularly for ensuring sufficient water levels would be available and meet government standards for fighting potential fires at the data center.
Prior to the council’s vote, Belleville said he wanted more answers to his questions before supporting improvements to the water and sewer systems.
Belleville said, “It just seems like there are so many unknowns, and we’re trying to put a project forward and we’re kind of guessing here, guessing here, guessing here… and I’m just wondering if we make a commitment now to go forward with this, will we wish we would have waited 60 days until we had an actual plan and we had an actual figure to work with?”
Ward 3 Councilman Dan Moore, who like Belleville gained election to the council in April with a campaign stating opposition to the data center project, said he supported the resolution for the engineering work as a means of obtaining answers to his questions.
“I think we’re putting the cart before the horse here a little bit,” Moore said. “I think we have to have this in order to get the better picture, and then we move to what (Belleville) is saying.”
City Administrator Ben DeClue on Tuesday said Burns & McDonnell would soon start the engineering work called for in the resolution.
In other business, 14 residents spoke during the public comments section with most of them voicing opposition to the proposed data center and the city’s handling of the data center project.