Joplin resident Jimmer Pinjuv is proposing annexation of his land for a new data center. The local developer currently owns Wildwood Ranch, a 2,064-acre site.
The city's Planning and Zoning Commission meeting approved the preliminary plan on Jan. 12 with a 6-1 vote. It is in the very beginning stages of the approval process, according to Joplin city officials.
Pinjuv brought the proposal to the Joplin city council during their Jan. 20th meeting. There was intense, emotionally charged opposition, he said. The meeting lasted seven hours. According to Pinjuv, he felt a target on his back as the meeting progressed. Police officers' presence increased throughout the night.
Pinjuv owns mixed-use property, which is already annexed by the city. It is classified as R1, the city's most protected property class.
His phone has been flooded with phone calls since the public meeting. Pinjuv agreed to speak off the record because of the volume of calls.
He believes the data center will be the city's biggest economic boom since the Tri-State Mining District.
Troy Bolander with Joplin's Planning, Development and Neighborhood Services says the city is weighing the drawbacks and advantages of a new center.
"So we have to make sure that whatever goes out there, not just the data center, but whatever industry goes out there, doesn't impact our infrastructure in a negative way," Bolander said.
It's unclear how many jobs the data center would provide. Bolander anticipates the need for support jobs, like electricians.
The city of Joplin wants to make it clear that this proposal was brought to them and is not a city project.
Amanda Calderon-Kidston is with the local group Joplin Citizens Against Wildwood Ranch Data Center Site. She wants to reiterate the group's opposition to the data center, not the entire Wildwood Ranch area.
"What we see as a potential threat to the integrity of our community is the abuse of natural resources, excessive consumption of utilities, including electricity and gas, and environmental impacts, whether it be sound pollution," added Calderon-Kidston.
According to her, she sees the data center as a 'counter to all things good happening in our city.' She pointed to accomplishments with Parks and Recreation department.
Local opposition to the potential data center reflects a growing trend with data centers in the U.S. The rise of data centers has been coupled with increased concerns with environmental and activist groups.
The rising use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has led to an increase in the construction of data centers across the U.S. The use of AI is so powerful that dedicated data centers must be built to accommodate it.
A data center is a physical facility where organizations can house their applications and data. Missouri currently has 74.
Most AI data centers also require liquid cooling for the AI chips, according to the Environmental Energy and Study Institute. One medium-sized data center could use roughly 110 million gallons of water per year.
Pinjuv is working with Liberty utilities to conduct a feasibility study to determine the prospective impacts if the data center were built.
Bolander said the city is requiring Pinjuv to conduct 14 different feasibility studies to determine the prospective impacts if the data center were to be built.
If the studies come back dissenting the data center, Pinjuv plans to build a rail site that runs east to west.
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