Go Topeka’s Data Center Ties Draw Scrutiny

Kansas Communities Write Battery Rules Before Projects Are Submitted

Kansas Offers $500,000 for Rapid Downtown Block Makeover

Higher Wheat Prices Meet Dry Kansas Planting Conditions

El Niño Could Bring Kansas Wetter Months

Go Topeka’s Data Center Ties Draw Scrutiny

TOPEKA, Kan. — Residents questioned Go Topeka’s ties to a proposed Compass Datacenters campus during the Sept. 9 Joint Economic Development Organization board meeting, citing the organization’s land ownership and its chairman’s role at the engineering firm assisting the project. County documents identify Go Topeka as the owner of approximately 40 acres within the roughly 600-acre proposed site. Residents said the land was purchased with taxpayer money. Go Topeka Chairman Joe Caldwell also serves as chief executive of Bartlett & West, which helped Compass with site studies and submitted the conditional use permit application. Earlier in the meeting, Go Topeka Vice President Ashley Lehman said Compass applied directly to Shawnee County and was not seeking local incentives. She said no active project was being considered for approval by Go Topeka’s board or JEDO, the joint city-county economic development body funded through a countywide sales tax. Residents raised conflict-of-interest concerns about the overlapping roles. The records establish the organizational ties but do not, by themselves, establish improper conduct.

JEDO Meeting Coverage · Greater Topeka Partnership · Bartlett & West

Kansas Communities Write Battery Rules Before Projects Are Submitted

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Some Kansas communities are writing rules for large battery storage facilities before any developer has submitted a project in their jurisdiction. McPherson County adopted a permanent zoning ban on utility-scale storage outside city limits Aug. 31, replacing a 13-month temporary moratorium. Douglas and Riley counties reported no pending applications as officials considered who should pay for fire equipment and training. Road repairs, battery replacement and removing facilities when they close are also under discussion, with rules potentially assigning those costs to developers or taxpayers. Several communities have imposed temporary restrictions, while Reno County commissioners rejected a blanket ban 3-2. Emporia voters will consider a proposed ban Nov. 3, while the city seeks judicial review.

Citizen Journal · Local Meeting Reports · Lawrence Times · WIBW · KSN · City of Emporia

Kansas Offers $500,000 for Rapid Downtown Block Makeover

TOPEKA, Kan. — Lt. Gov. David Toland, who also serves as commerce secretary, announced a $500,000 pilot Sept. 9 to transform one Kansas downtown block through Building Local Opportunity through Coordinated Kansas Investment, or BLOCK. Applications open Sept. 11 and close Sept. 30, with award notification by Oct. 9 and improvements due by Dec. 15, according to the Kansas Department of Commerce. Applicants must identify a block containing at least three buildings and submit a coordinated improvement plan for the entire block. The program requires a dollar-for-dollar match, with at least 75% coming from cash or other grants and no more than 25% from documented donated labor or materials. Communities demonstrating private investment alongside public funding or connections to other state programs receive additional consideration. No community has been selected, and the state has not announced an expected applicant count for the pilot, which will test whether concentrated investment across a block can encourage further downtown investment.

KSN · Kansas Department of Commerce

Higher Wheat Prices Meet Dry Kansas Planting Conditions

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Kansas farmers are heading into fall wheat planting with higher prices but too little moisture in much of the state. Cash prices are what a grain elevator pays for wheat today, while futures prices are agreed on for delivery later and reflect traders’ expectations. One reported cash quote for hard red winter wheat was about $9.42 a bushel Sept. 1, up nearly 59% from about $5.93 a year earlier. Prices have risen as supplies tightened: USDA estimates this year’s U.S. hard red winter wheat crop at 497 million bushels, down 38% from last year and the smallest since 1957-58. Kansas Wheat says farmers may plant about the same acreage as last year or up to 3% more, including fields where drought damaged corn and soybeans. But 66% of the state’s topsoil was rated short or very short of moisture Aug. 30, so rain is needed to help seeds sprout as planting picks up in late September and October.

World Grain · Baking Business · Kansas Wheat

El Niño Could Bring Kansas Wetter Months

WICHITA, Kan. — A very strong El Niño has developed and could favor wetter conditions in the Kansas region, the National Weather Service in Wichita said in a Sept. 4 post. The weather service expects the pattern to persist into spring 2027. An average of the 11 strong to very strong El Niño events since 1950 shows above-average precipitation across the region from fall through spring. The historical pattern suggests potential for wetter months ahead, although the agency cautioned that individual El Niño events differ.

NWS Wichita

Sources

1. JEDO Meeting / Greater Topeka Partnership / Bartlett & West
2. Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission / Riley County / Reno County / Dickinson County / Hutchinson / Topeka / Saline County / Citizen Journal / Lawrence Times / WIBW / KSN / City of Emporia
3. KSN / Kansas Department of Commerce / BLOCK Guidelines
4. World Grain / Baking Business / Kansas Wheat
5. NWS Wichita

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