The city of Edgerton has filed a lawsuit in Johnson County District Court to block a citizen-led petition seeking to ban data centers in the small southern Johnson County community.
On Aug. 4, the city filed the lawsuit against Kimberly Twente, Carrie Schmidt, the civic watchdog nonprofit group Twente recently incorporated, Public Trust Collective Inc., as well as other unnamed defendants, alleging their petition aimed at stopping data centers from being built in the city is “legally and factually deficient.”
The petition proposes an ordinance classifying data centers as “industrial nuisances” that would have “substantial risks to the public health, welfare, and peace” and have a negative effect on local and regional infrastructure, including utilities.
The city argues in its lawsuit that the proposed ordinance would, in effect, function as a zoning restriction, making the matter “administrative” and not legislative, meaning it would not fall under the citizen petition process.
The lawsuit also says the residents’ petition is based on factual claims about the city council’s prior actions and authority that are not true.
The city is asking a Johnson County judge to declare the data center petition invalid and permanently block the proposed ordinance from being adopted or put to a citywide vote.
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While not totally unexpected, the lawsuit still came as a surprise, Twente said.
“To sue citizens over a petition is mind-blowing because it really feels like you are trying to impede on First Amendment rights at this point,” she told the Johnson County Post.
Despite using legal pathways to fight against data centers, Schmidt said she feels like they’re being bullied.
“The City of Edgerton suing petitioners and then asking the Court for relief through ‘costs, interest, and other charges’ because citizens followed the statutory procedure to petition the government, is a retaliation and bullying tactic used to scare and silence lawful government petitioning,” she said in a statement to the Johnson County Post. “I am in this lawsuit for one reason: I exercised my right to circulate the petition, and I spoke out against the government.”
The city is not suing to silence anyone, City Attorney Todd Luckman wrote in a statement posted on the city of Edgerton’s website.
“This is not an order preventing these individuals from contacting the City or anyone else. The City is asking the court to temporarily pause the election process that is required under the state law while the court determines whether the proposed ordinance can legally proceed to a vote,” he wrote.
The petition had enough signatures to move forward
Since the Edgerton City Council began discussing plans for a Dubai-based DAMAC Digital data center project at the Logistics Park Kansas City warehouse at 31800 W. 196th St. in Edgerton, Schmidt and Twente have become prominent voices against it.
The city’s lawsuit is a response to their protests, Twente said.
“They are purposely being aggressive. They are purposely bullying us. They’re trying to silence us,” she said.
In its fight against the data center project, Schmidt, Twente and Public Trust Collective Inc. circulated a petition, which garnered 208 signatures.
The city’s lawsuit notes that the Johnson County Election Office reviewed the petition and confirmed the validity of the signatures. It also states that the county’s legal department reviewed the petition and determined it generally met statutory requirements.
At its July 23 meeting, the city council declined to adopt the petition, claiming it had inaccurate statements and findings that the governing body never made, and instead opted to approve filing the lawsuit.
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The city filed injunction to pause election process
In his statement, Luckman clarified that while a restraining order is often viewed as preventing one person from contacting another, in this case it asks the court to temporarily pause the election process required under state law while the court determines whether the proposed ordinance can legally proceed to a vote.
“Kansas law requires that people whose interests would be affected by the decision must be named. They were the primary individuals/organization that were behind the petition. They have an obvious interest in what happens in court and we wanted to make sure they were notified and involved in that process,” he wrote.
The city is not seeking any financial compensation, attorneys’ fees or monetary damages and any court costs would likely not be ordered by the court, Luckman wrote in the statement.
Twente and Schmidt disagree that a lawsuit was needed for them to be involved in the process.
A video posted by Schmidt on Friday showing Luckman serving Schmidt and Twente at the Edgerton City Council meeting on Thursday garnered more than 2.2 million views. Twente takes it as a sign of people’s anger.
“People are angry. People are seeing this. The city is trying to … spin this as (they’re) doing this as a favor to them to keep (us) involved. We’re not expecting anything from them, but people are angry because people are seeing this as an attack on First Amendment rights,” she said.
One of Twente’s concerns is that the lawsuit sets a standard that cities can seek when people speak out against data centers.
“This lawsuit is not just about us. This lawsuit is much bigger than us. This lawsuit is much bigger than just Edgerton. What happens with this lawsuit can set a precedent with any other data center disagreement going forward,” she said.
What’s next
Public Trust Collective, Inc., Twente and Schmidt have 21 days to respond to the lawsuit. They are exploring legal representation, Twente said.
“We’ve been looking into various options, but with everything going on, we’re also being cautious to figure out exactly what the next best step is, who the best person to represent us is, so it’s not something we’re taking lightly,” she said.
Hearings in Johnson County District Court for both the motion to pause the election process and the city’s request for a declaratory judgment are expected in the future.
No court dates yet have been scheduled, according to Johnson County court records.
