On March 31, for the third time in the month, government leaders from Sedgwick County and the city of Wichita heard from a crowded room of area residents with a fairly unified message regarding the development of data centers — no thanks. With no zoning regulations in place currently in Wichita or Sedgwick County regarding data centers, and development of such facilities gaining steam across the country, local government leaders started to look at the issue more closely at the start of the year.
Read more: www.derbyinformer.com

On Tuesday, March 31, Dodge City Community College (DC3) hosted area high school students for a Construction Day lunch at the Skinner Student Activity Center, offering a hands-on look at career opportunities in the building trades. The event, held in partnership with the Dodge City/Ford County Development Corporation, was designed to connect students with real-world experiences in construction. Participants toured local job sites and learned more about DC3’s Building Construction Technology program, led by instructor Pat Shiew.
Read more: Dodge City Daily Globe

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County has approved plans for a new downtown grocery store at the old Merc Co+op location in Kansas City, Kansas. During Thursday’s commissioner’s meeting, WyCo leaders voted to approve the letter of intent from Anthony Estrada, the owner of Santa Fe Grocers, to open a full-service grocery store near North 5th Street and Minnesota Avenue. On Monday, Estrada submitted the letter of intent before the Unified Government’s Economic Development and Finance committee. The proposed store at 5th and Minnesota in KCK would be called United Market, and would include a meat department, bakery, and produce section.
Read more: FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV

Surplus and underused county property may become the next frontier in the effort to create more affordable housing in Johnson County. County commissioners last week approved a new policy that asks that wherever feasible, housing be included in the mix of possible uses for redevelopment of its underused properties. The policy emphasizes partnerships with other entities, public or private. The new policy, approved 6-1 with Commissioner Michael Ashcraft dissenting, does not commit the county to any projects, nor does it require housing to be prioritized ahead of other uses. Commissioners said the intent was to see if a housing element to development could be a way to expand affordable options and possibly generate revenue.
Read more: Johnson County Post

The Wichita City Council on Tuesday will consider signing off on the purchase of two robotic dogs for the police department The robots were originally approved through the city’s capital improvement plan. The council has the option to get one or both of the dogs. One would got to the SWAT team and the other to the bomb squad. The police chief says if the council only approves one dog, he knows where he wants it to go. Both dogs would cost the city over $630,000.
Read more: KSN-TV

A new Lawrence Affordable Housing Study finds that over half of renters and many homebuyers cannot afford current prices, as housing construction lags well below pre-pandemic levels.
Read more: LJWorld

Becky Willard asked the county commissioners to expand the current moratorium in effect to include three new items: private energy campuses, hyperscale AI data centers, and a solar project near McCune. A private energy campus is a piece of infrastructure designed to support the high-energy usage of data centers. Kansas House Bill HB 2664 would allow tech companies to build such a complex independent of the existing power grid, sometimes combining wind, solar, natural gas and nuclear power. Supporters of the bill argue that by letting tech companies bypass government bureaucracy, Kansas can more easily attract high-tech industry and massive capital investment. The problem is who pays for the existing power grid. Maintaining the grid does not get cheaper if fewer people are on it. If big tech is allowed to build their own grids, the remaining customers have to pick up the slack in lost revenue used to maintain the grid, while at the same time, the private campuses remain hooked into the public grid for emergencies.
Read more: Morning Sun