Data center opposition has turned some Independence residents into new activists
While Independence leaders say their plan to bring a $150 billion, 400-acre data center to town — with the help of billions in tax breaks — is too far along to stop, a growing group of furious residents is refusing to give up hope.
This week, they hit the streets to start gathering neighbors’ signatures in an effort to put the question of city support for the massive artificial intelligence project to a public vote. And they even sued the city to ask a judge for the green light to move forward with their push.
Nebius, a Dutch company specializing in AI data services, will break ground later this year on what is set to be their flagship U.S. facility. The company will benefit from more than $6 billion in tax breaks, which the Independence City Council passed last week over the vehement protests of a room packed with residents.
The city has said that while the referendum process is a tool that residents can use to reverse some council decisions, the data center tax breaks do not qualify. The city’s contracts with Nebius went into effect immediately upon passage and can’t be reversed, a city spokesperson previously told The Star.
However, members of a local watchdog group called Stop The AI Data Center in Independence are hoping to force a vote anyway. They have collected more than 800 signatures as of this week, along with a first batch of 184 signatures turned into the city the morning after city councilmembers approved the tax breaks.
Organizers Rachel Gonzalez, Misty Vaughn and Karma Magers sued the city and City Clerk Suzanne Holland earlier this week, asking a Jackson County judge to force Holland to certify the first batch of signatures and clear the way for more.
“This is the largest decision that our City Council has ever made in the history of the city of Independence,” Gonzalez The Star.
Gonzalez said that the group would need 3,700 signatures — plus the judge’s order they’re hoping to obtain with their lawsuit — in order to trigger a public vote that could walk back the tax breaks.
Their strategy? Daily petition drives around Independence.
Recent stops have included Kinship Cafe, the Independence Municipal Commons, the Trails West branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library and at least one McDonald’s franchise. Upcoming events include a drive-through signature stop at the Independence Athletic Complex.
Gonzalez and other organizers have been offering training sessions at some weekend petition drives to prepare other residents to circulate copies on their own.
“We’ve really just been dividing and conquering,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve been at city council meetings. We’ve been out at different parts of the city…talking to our neighbors, knocking on doors, doing what we can to inform residents.”
Growing political engagement
Most of the signature events have been coordinated on social media, with organizers and members posting lists of planned stops almost daily. The largest digital meeting place has been Facebook, where the Stop The AI Data Center in Independence group page has accrued nearly 66,000 followers as of Thursday.
For some residents, ongoing opposition to the data center has brought out an unprecedented — and unexpected — political streak. Independence resident Brenda Huddleston said the petition drive was her first foray into local organizing, but that it quickly became a foundational lesson on the importance of keeping up with City Council actions.
“I’ve learned my lesson that we should all be more involved in our city,” Huddleston told The Star.
But as the group seeks to pull in more neighbors, a core group of those most closely affected by the upcoming construction has emerged as petition event regulars. Mary and Howard Hoff, who live on Bly Road in view of the planned data center, brought their lawn chairs and yard signs to the Trails West signature drive, flagging down passing cars.
“You’ve got to hope that there’s still a chance that we can stop it,” Mary Hoff said.
Despite the increasing attention on the data center, organizers continue to encounter residents every day who haven’t heard of the project at all, Gonzalez said, particularly older residents who don’t spend much time online.
Others say it’s taken a concerted effort to keep up with city leaders’ stance on the data center, which is set to break ground later this year on a plot of undeveloped land more than twice the size of Arrowhead Stadium.
Nebius representatives previously said that the company would likely pull out of Independence altogether without the recently passed financial incentives, which include a 90-98% discount on real and personal property taxes. Instead, the company will pay out about $650 million to schools, libraries and other taxing jurisdictions over the next 20 years.
Many residents have consistently expressed their disdain for the city’s approach to the project, saying that they would have preferred more warning and more direct answers to their ongoing questions about how the data center will change Independence. Other groups have thrown their support behind the project, like construction labor unions and the school districts that would benefit from the influx of revenue.
“We feel like now we can’t miss one meeting at the city,” Mary Hoff said, “because you don’t know what they’re going to try to do.
“There should never be a city that does things behind closed doors like the city of Independence has done.”
Statewide collaboration
Gonzalez said that as residents’ signature efforts grow, organizers have increased their collaboration with other local watchdog groups across the state to track and oppose future data center construction projects. Similar groups have formed in Warren County, Missouri, as well as the St. Louis area, she said.
Rojel and Kim Black drove more than 200 miles from Exeter, Missouri, to support the petition drive. The couple, who represent a nondenominational Christian group opposing the spread of AI infrastructure, said that Nebius’ entry into Independence was a necessary reminder of how quickly data centers are spreading in the state.
“A lot of people weren’t really waking up to the reality of what’s happening,” Rojel Black said. “People never see the need to speak up because it wasn’t affecting them directly.”
Huddleston said that she’s mostly seen encouraging reactions from the Independence residents who stop at the petition drives she’s attended.
“This has brought our city together,” Huddleston said. “I feel like it’s brought us together like Independence has not been brought together in forever. Some of the guys we’re talking about, they never even met their neighbors until this all started.”
Gonzalez, too, said that the ongoing signature effort has been a lesson in the power of grassroots organizing — even after more than a decade in the field.
“I’ve been really inspired because there are people in our group that are like, ‘You know what? I’ve never met my neighbors before, but we’ve all decided that we don’t want this data center, and now we’re, you know, going out to lunch with each other,’” Gonzalez said. “‘We’re having coffee like we are, you know, doing stuff with each other’s families.’ It’s brought the community together in a really powerful way.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 6:06 AM.
