Jefferson County now has an official guidebook on data center development.
The County Council on April 27 approved the new regulations 5-2, which will be added to the county’s Unified Development Order. The bill provides a regulatory framework for unincorporated portions of the county on data centers, addressing concerns on noise, water and light pollution, building and design standards, setbacks, zoning and more.
Councilman Tim Brown (District 6, De Soto) attempted to amend the bill twice during the meeting and failed to gather enough votes. Brown and Councilman Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart) ultimately voted against the bill.
Councilman Billy Crow (District 2, Arnold) thanked County Services Director Mitch Bair and Deputy Director Dennis Kehm, along with the rest of the County Services staff, for their work drafting the data center legislation.
In December, a committee called the Economic Development Objectives Committee (EDOC) met to discuss how best to regulate data centers in the county. The committee, which discusses a variety of topics related to economic growth, is made up of County Council members, as well as volunteer members Chris Howard, a Cedar Hill resident seeking the Republican nomination for Jefferson County executive in 2026; Clinton McBride, a government affairs director for LiUNA Local 110; and Bobby Kaye, an Imperial resident and president of the Lorenzen Candle Corp.
County Executive Dennis Gannon on Dec. 2 issued an executive order that stated Bair should work with the EDOC to draft the process and regulatory framework related to data center development.
Since then, the EDOC and county staff have met numerous times to discuss regulations, including noise, air quality, design standards and community benefit agreements, among other topics.
“The process to get these UDO ordinances surrounding data centers has been a long and fruitful conversation,” Crow said. “I want to thank the EDOC committee (and) Chair Bob Tullock (District 7, House Springs), who set this up so we can look at these ordinances and stay ahead of the game and be proactive, determining our own destiny, instead of being reactionary like so many municipalities around this nation have been when it comes to data centers.”
Proposed amendments
Brown said he supports regulating data centers but is concerned the county is taking on legal risks with some of the wording in the legislation.
He said the final section of the regulations on community benefits agreements (CBA) makes unfair demands of data center developers.
At an earlier council meeting, Brown said the CBA, specifically the project labor agreement (PLA) portion, could potentially increase the county’s risk of lawsuits from developers. A PLA is a collective bargaining agreement between construction unions and contractors that governs terms and conditions for employment, according to the AFL-CIO.
Portions of the CBA state the developer should make a good faith effort to hire Jefferson County laborers to work for at least 25 percent of the total construction hours for the project. Also, at least 50 percent of the full-time employment positions at the data center should be reserved for Jefferson County residents, according to the CBA.
“I heard words like ‘coercion,’ ‘extortion’ and ‘unlawful’ used very specifically to PLAs,” Brown said previously. “We have many people working for this county who believe that those terms apply to this, and we’re going to approve that, then I believe that’s a problem with this council.”
“I’m not up here to say what’s lawful or unlawful,” added County Counselor Jalesia F.M. Kuenzel. “I’m not going to do that, but I will say this is risky.”
He introduced an amendment, which failed 5-2, that would have removed the current CBA section in the legislation and replaced it with a new one suggesting that developers submit a CBA, especially when the developer is requesting tax abatements or incentives. Groeteke and Brown were the only council members to approve the amendment.
“I don’t support taking the kind of risk that some of you are willing to accept,” Brown told the council. “I think our job is to protect the county from risk and potential financial loss, and with this developer agreement language in there, we’re not doing that.”
Additionally, Brown proposed an amendment to the building setbacks portion of the legislation. The amendment would keep the regulatory 500-foot setback the same for data centers built next to a residential property but would require any principal data center structure to be built no closer than 1,000 feet to the nearest existing home.
“I’m more willing to try to compromise and listen to not just what’s good for the developers, but also what we’re hearing and what you can obviously see happen in Festus, that the people want some sort of setback protection from their homes, and if we can’t provide that, then I don’t think these regulations are meeting the needs of the community,” he said.
The amendment failed 5-2, with Groeteke and Brown voting for it.
“I appreciate Councilman Brown’s diligence in trying to bring this forward to protect these citizens that may or may not be affected if these developments come close to the residential area,” Groeteke said. “I believe he’s put a lot of thought into this.”
When it came time to vote on the bill for the second time, Crow quickly called for a motion to approve the bill’s passage before Brown could call for a motion to amend the bill. Brown said the rest of the council knew his intentions to present amendments to the bill at the meeting and said the move to vote on the legislation before he had a chance to amend it was uncalled for.
Brown was later able to present his amendments before the third and final vote for the bill was taken.
“In the last meeting (on April 13), we talked about this, that we knew we had amendments, and we allowed those amendments to be presented before we voted on it,” Brown said. “Now this time, knowing that there are amendments submitted in advance, you’re trying to race to the microphone. I would ask that we give consideration, letting people make the amendments. We talk about working together, trying to do things, and this just goes against that, that he won’t even let me present the amendments. Don’t vote for them if you don’t like them, but to not let me present doesn’t really speak to collaboration and working together.”
The story was updated to clarify concerns Brown raised about community benefit agreements.