About 45 minutes outside Kansas City, Kansas, the city of Edgerton is embroiled in a contentious dispute surrounding the construction of a large artificial intelligence (AI) data center. The conflict has escalated to an unusual level, with city officials filing a lawsuit against their own residents to prevent a ballot initiative that could ban future data center developments.
The proposed data center would be developed by Dubai-based Damac Properties, a real estate company closely linked to former President Donald Trump. The firm has collaborated with Trump on several Middle Eastern projects and has paid significant fees to the Trump Organization since 2013. Damac’s chairman, Hussain Sajwani, made a commitment in early 2025 to invest $20 billion in U.S. data centers following Trump’s re-election. While Kansas was not initially highlighted, Edgerton became a focal point after Damac purchased land there in early 2026 to launch the project.
Edgerton’s local government, including Mayor Donald Roberts, has been involved in facilitating the data center’s development, though Roberts has not publicly declared a position on the specific Damac project. The city has a history of industrial expansion driven by NorthPoint Development, a Kansas City-based company that earlier transformed Edgerton into a thriving logistics hub through strategic land acquisitions and development of Logistics Park Kansas City, a massive 2,300-acre industrial and intermodal facility. NorthPoint’s groundwork included re-zoning that allowed data centers as a permitted use within industrial zones, enabling projects like Damac’s to move forward without additional public hearings.
The data center project however has met with strong resistance from many residents concerned about environmental, safety, and tax issues. A portion of the community has voiced worries about the ecological impact of the project on Hillsdale Lake, a reservoir providing drinking water to approximately 56,000 people. Residents such as Kim Twente have pointed to potential runoff into local waterways that feed into the lake. Damac has pledged to implement a closed-loop cooling system designed to minimize water consumption, with assurances that any necessary maintenance flushing will not discharge into local wastewater or groundwater; instead, water would be transported off-site.
In June 2026, Edgerton’s planning commission initially rejected Damac’s site plan, citing concerns over aboveground fuel tanks for backup diesel generators. These “belly tanks” raised fire safety and environmental alarms. The city council later overturned the rejection after Damac agreed to place the fuel tanks underground.
Opposition efforts culminated in a petition aimed at placing a referendum on the November ballot to prohibit data center construction within the city. Residents successfully gathered more than twice the signatures required, but the city has challenged the measure in court, arguing zoning approvals are administrative and thus not subject to public vote. Petitioners contend the initiative involves legislative land use policy, warranting inclusion on the ballot. As of now, the issue remains unresolved, with the ballot measure excluded from upcoming elections.
Additionally, Edgerton residents face rising property taxes and a 1% special project sales tax implemented to support municipal costs amid the city’s expanding industrial profile. To alleviate homeowners’ burdens, the city has offered one-time and ongoing tax rebates, although debates persist over the long-term benefits and drawbacks of large-scale data center developments in the region.
The conflict in Edgerton reflects broader national tensions as communities weigh the economic and technological advantages of hosting AI infrastructure against environmental, fiscal, and quality-of-life concerns. Damac’s ambitions and political connections add a complex layer to the ongoing debate about the future of AI data centers in the United States.