This post is about Camden County, MO and how the data center discussion emerged FAST where I live.
As data centers are spreading like a cancer across our country, people are learning fast about the dangers of these data centers. However, there is typically a well played handbook on how to dupe the citizens and sneak these in before anyone understands they are really even here and how harmful they are to the people who live around them for a myriad of reasons.
This is that story.
I am part of an appointed board to update our Unified Land Use Code in Camden County. Kris Franken, also on the board, took the lead in our county on doing the investigation/research and finding remedies to addressing many of the grave concerns people share about data centers with reference to health concerns, issues with water, and our electrical grid. As an engineer he understands the technical part of how these data centers operate and what the dangers are to the public. While we were crafting a new appendix that will address data centers in our county in the ULUC (land use code) for Planning and Zoning, the final language was sent to the commission where they adopted the language as a county wide ordinance since the entirety of Camden County’s Planning and Zoning only reaches 3 miles from the Lake and does not cover a very large portion of rural land in the County. The adoption of the ordinance took place as part of the Commission Meeting on April 24, 2026. For the protection of the health and welfare of the public the County Commission has taken their role this way very seriously and acted with haste to pass the ordinance. They are owed a debt of gratitude for acting so quickly.
(Kris Franken is a former presiding commissioner in Camden County and is now running for county auditor. Under his impartial leadership and heart for donating countless hours on issues such as this one, he is critical to the protection of our county and smoking out the waste and potential fraud that has governed the pocketbook of Camden County in many departments for far too long. )
As luck would have it, Brandi Hodits-Freese presented her brother’s development company’s request for an endorsement of an “ Opportunity Zone” in Camden County for our Camden COUNTY Commission on the same day the ordinance for data centers was later presented and passed, April 24, 2026. You will see the agenda for the Commission below:
This was the first time this year the county had been approached about an opportunity zone. The pitch was about “workforce housing” and promised economic development. You can watch the video of that meeting here: (the Opportunity Zone discussion starts at the 14:20 minute mark).
Opportunity Zone / Camden County Commission Presentation and request for their endorsement: https://recordings.camdencountymo.gov/Recordings/View/1321
NOTE: THERE WAS NO MENTION OF A DATA CENTER BY BRANDI FREESE (the developer’s sister). WHEN THE PRESIDING COMMISSIONER ASKED HER AT THE END OF HER PRESENTATION IN JEST OF THE OZ INCLUDED A MEDIUM TO LARGE SCALE DATA CENTER HER RESPONSE WAS “ YOU NEVER KNOW”.
Here is a clip of that exchange:
You can watch the entire meeting by clicking this link: https://recordings.camdencountymo.gov/Recordings/View/1321
The request for the OZ endorsement starts around the 14:20 minute mark.
You can also find the discussion on the ordinance addressing the Data Centers after that presentation.
What is an Opportunity Zone?
It is a mapped area designated from the census tracts that essentially name areas that fall into the criteria required for the Opportunity Zone designation.
You can read all about those here: click photo to read about those in Missouri.
Essentially, it is a tax incentive to attract investors to an area to promote development and contribute to “economic investment”.
There is a deadline of May 17 for applicants to apply. One of the major requirements is “community support”.
What does that look like?
In this case these are the entities and individuals who wrote letters of endorsement for the Opportunity Zones:
The Governor of Missouri’s role:
The Governor may nominate only 25% of Missouri’s eligible tracts — approximately 130 out of roughly 520 eligible tracts statewide. Competition will be significant. The Governor can begin submitting nominations on day one of the window (July 1, 2026), so this packet should be on his desk before that date. This opportunity may not be available again for another 10 years, and future eligibility is not guaranteed.
The 2.0 version paves the way for tax incentives and funding for data centers.
An executive order from the President paved the way for Data Centers with the roll out of Opportunity Zones 2.0. Read about that here:
The funding and the tax incentives have created a hive of locust across the country that do not care about the resources these mega data centers will use and the risks to human health that have been confirmed by our Health Secretary in a Congressional Hearing last week where he confirmed studies that have provided scientific evidence of harm caused by the electromagnetic frequencies associated with data centers.
This is a root problem of what we are seeing now. Why are we seeing no legislation in Missouri even being introduced to regulate data centers contaminating farm land, creating health concerns for so many, contaminating our water, and the potential of harming our children? What kind of harm will these data centers do to people long term?
Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley addresses health concerns in the video below. Start at the 3:00 minute mark to hear about RFK’s concerns about “grave nuerological” issues and rare cancers associated with data centers. Click photo below to watch video:
IN CAMDEN COUNTY:
The Opportunity Zone presentation for the Commission in the COUNTY made no mention of data centers. NOTHING. Only when in jest did the Presiding Commissioner ask the question did a veiled response give pause and created a lot of research that uncovered so much.
First, why are so many people upset about the new AI Data Centers?
Let me get you started on your research as to why there is so much public outcry:
WATER: (click the photos to read the articles)
There is a TON of information on water concerns with data centers. The research is abundant.
Large/Mega data centers are said to use 5 million gallons of water PER DAY.
Approximately 2 BILLION GALLONS A YEAR.
ELECTRICITY CONCERNS:
This should concern us all. Ameren is promising power to data centers when so many coal fire plants have been taken off line with no real plan as how to create new power to keep utility rates affordable. Yet, on behalf of their shareholders, they are thrilled at how many promises they have made to big data companies for power with, what appears, no plan to address the growing issue for affordable electricity for their current customers.
FOR AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY ZONE MEANS, HERE YOU GO:
LOCAL DECEPTION AND SECRECY LEADING THE WAY IN CAMDEN COUNTY:
This is where the local audience will want to track carefully the timeline and the true deception of the intent of this plan.
As mentioned above, on April 24, 2026, there was a County Commission Meeting to present and approve an ordinance dealing with Data Centers in Camden COUNTY with the Commission.
On that day, a development who DOES NOT OWN a piece of ground known as the “Cecil Hopkins property” is the targeted location of a new data center or what is called an “innovation research campus” at the center of this fight. At the heart of this was the request for endorsements of the Opportunity Zone status for this property which is a requirement for consideration for an opportunity zone designation.
As a part of the OZ 2.0 designation there is unique funding for these and tax incentives.
April 24, 2026 The Commission tables the request for the designation until Thursday, April 30, 2026 to give them more time to research and learn about what is being asked of them.
WHAT THE COMMISSION DID NOT KNOW AT THAT TIME is how much work had been done prior to obtaining endorsements of this OZ designation. Those included:
The Mayor of Camdenton, John McNabb
The Alderman of the City of Camdenton
Representative Jeff Vernetti
Lake of the Ozarks Regional and Economic Development Council (LORDEC)
The Lake Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The presenter was quick to show the endorsements from other municipalities and organizations, plus State Representative Jeff Vernetti. See that in their presentation to the County Commission below:
The tract of land they need is largely found in the unincorporated area of Camden County. Here is the map of the area they need:
NOTE: This is the document found on the City of Camdenton’s website under that date of March 17, 2026 with a link attached to the packet. Note at the very bottom how it is shown to be “Confidential and Proprietary”. NOTE THIS FACT:
The developer “MO Lake Development, LLC” does not appear to own the parcel at this time that there is a “pending annexation agreement” with the city for “ an additional 1000 acres”. He appears to own 40 acres across the highway from Wal Mart.
Questions:
Does that include the subdivisions and private homes in that mapped area?
Do those people who OWN their homes know about this “pending annexation”?
If this does not include those homes, has anyone been transparent with them about this “Pending annexation” agreement and what that would mean for their homes that may still be left under the COUNTY control, next door to a property annexed that would be controlled by the CITY?
Has there ever been any talk with those home OWNERS and tax payers? It is mentioned here again in Mayor John McNabb’s endorsement letter:
Here is what Mayor John McNabb’s letter of endorsement states:
This tract is not a remote or peripheral area for our city—it is central to Camdenton’s present and future. Approximately 1,045 acres of Census Tract 9504.01 lie within the City of Camdenton’s corporate limits, with an additional approximately 1,000 acres to be incorporated upon completion of the pending annexation agreement—bringing the total to approximately 2,000 acres of this tract within City jurisdiction.
Has Mayor McNabb let ANY OF THE OWNERS KNOW ABOUT THE SAID “PENDING” ANNEXATION AGREEMENT WHO WILL BE IMPACTED BY THIS PLAN?
City Clerk, Renee Kingston, posted this comment on FB regarding the talk of Data Centers. She downplayed concern and the possibility by saying this:
She is right that the Opportunity Zones were part of the agenda posted, but NOTHING about the Data Center.
Here is the agenda from the city of Camdenton for that “work study” meeting:
NOTE: On the agenda Under A: there was discussion of Opportunity Zones. This is true. BUT, NOTHING ABOUT DATA CENTERS. Weird.
She also has said, “NO ONE HAS OFFICIALLY ASKED FOR A DATA CENTER”.
Yes, but the Mayor, Renee Kingston (the city clerk), Jeff Hooker, and the alderman KNEW as a result of that meeting on March 17, KNEW there was strong talk of a data center.
LOOK AT B: The plan was to do two things:
Change zoning to accommodate the Data Center.
The AGREEMENT (has anyone seen that ?) between the development and the city of Camdenton “that was previously passed” would become effective once Mo Lake Development “secures” the property (that it appears they do not own at this time).
Someone needs to get their hands on the agreement that previously passed and see what is says. What date did that agreement pass? Who voted for that? Is there a map of who will be impacted?
What, exactly, does the annexation look like? Who will be included in that? Is there a map of that? Do the people surrounding that area of annexation know what that looks like? Has anyone talked to them? Have meetings involving annexation and rezoning been noticed to the public properly?
Look at the minutes from that very meeting held on March 17. The “work session” meeting minutes are shown below. Take a look at item B:
So, when Renee Kingston says that no one has officially asked for a data center. Let’s review that statement. Possibly no one has “officially” has asked, but there is PLENTY of evidence that was a BIG part of the plan here.
A text message sent by the City Administrator, Jeff Hooker, sent on March 11th, 2026 said this:
I am told Renee Kingston was a part of this text thread. I have no way of verifying this, but was told by someone that was part of this thread that she was in this group, as well. This means she knew about the Data Center discussion to be had on March 17, 2026 on March 11. Yet, she did not put that information on the agenda for the benefit of the public.
The City CLEARLY Knew on March 11th or before this “work session” was about a 500,000 square foot data center being presented by the same developer asking for the Opportunity Zone designation.
Renee is not elected. Is she setting the agenda with this lack of transparency for every meeting. There used to be cameras in the City of Camdenton. Who stored them away and for what reasons?
The Mayor (John McNabb) CLEARLY KNEW, take a look at his endorsement of Data Centers in his letter:
MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT MISS THIS PART: Mayor McNabb clearly in his letter of support specifically mentions DATA CENTER FACILITIES. How did Renee not know? Or, does this not constitute as “officially” asking anyone for a data center as she mentions above in her comment on FB?
Half truths are not okay when someone is representing an elected body. Clearly there was much discussion and knowledge of a Large Data Center.
It was never on any agenda for public input.
The annexation has never been placed on any agenda, yet there appears to be some kind of agreement in place.
There is a re-zoning plan that it would appear has never been noticed correctly to the public and to those it may impact.
If I am not correct, I will gladly stand corrected if Renee Kingston, the City Clerk, can show me how these things have been adequately noticed FOR THE PUBLIC SHE IS SUPPOSED TO SERVE.
I would also love to see any public notice on any agenda that mentions a “data center” showing the public was noticed correctly. I hope I have missed it, and once provided I will offer a sincere apology for my assumptions since I can find no such notice anywhere.
Let’s review a public comment from the City Attorney, Phil Morgan, from Facebook.
Notice how carefully he says it was not a work session “FOR” data centers. He is right. However, that was a significant part of the meeting that was never noticed for the public. It should have been.
A small discussion at the end about a possible data center. Okay, that is fair. But, define small discussion. ANY discussion these days about a data center is concerning. Especially when it is about a 500,000 square foot data center (see the text message thread posted above to the Mayor and the Alderman by the City Administrator).
Reference the letter (above) of support by the Mayor that specifically endorses a data center.
I certainly hope there were a couple of questions. Thinking that the board of alderman and the Mayor asked no more questions than what would constitute a “small discussion” is very, very alarming. Especially knowing they knew it was for a 500,000 square foot data center. That crazy to me.
I tend to believe you when you say that the developer has been talking to the city for years about his development. But, what you may not have fully realized is that based on his own presentation to the County Commissioners he admitted he had been planning a data center for at least 5 years.
Click the photo to watch the entire meeting about data centers and the Commission’s denial of the endorsement for the Opportunity Zones.
Dear Renee Kingston, “briefly mentioned” at the end of that work session, yet you knew on March 11th that was going to be a topic and you did not notice that on the agenda. (See text message posted above). I understand the agenda was tentative, but this certainly should not have been overlooked. The public deserved to know.
PUT THE CAMERAS BACK UP, then you do not need to defend your actions. The public needs to be able to verify all that you are saying is, in fact, true. The public should be able to watch the work sessions and the aldermen meetings.
Phil Morgan, the County Attorney, You say this: “Give Blake a chance to explain the whole thing before making a lot of assumptions.”
There is a ticking clock to the deadline for the endorsement for the opportunity zones.
Clearly the CITY knew data centers were part of his PLAN and THEY HAD CONVERSATIONS or the OPPORTUNITY FOR CONVERSATIONS WITH THE ALDERMEN ABOUT DATA CENTERS. It should have been noticed for the public. That is why no one is trusting anything that is coming out of the city. There is a clear road map as to what has been going on and what the city knew. We would have loved to have been privy to what the city knew so we were not left to make assumptions.
THE DEADLINE FOR THE Opportunity Zones is May 17, 2026. To wait, would be foolish. Why was the county NOT given the same opportunity for the same information that the City was? Do you not believe there should have been public notice since you all KNEW about the data center plan? Why did that not happen?
ONE BIG THING TO PAY ATTENTION TO:
In Mayor, John McNabb’s, letter of endorsement for the Opportunity Zones he mentions “an innovation and research campus” with reference to data centers. Read the red print. Embedded in this language could be something far bigger than a 500,000 square foot data center.
“The project’s advanced energy and digital infrastructure components—including data center facilities and supporting power generation. “
Do some research into “Innovation and research campus” looks like:
From Lebanon, Indiana
LEBANON – Indiana Governor Mike Braun joined executives of Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) today as the company broke ground on a more than $10 billion state-of-the-art data center campus at the LEAP Innovation and Research District in Lebanon.
Pay attention to how large these campuses can be: INNOVATION AND RESEARCH CAMPUSES. DO YOUR RESEARCH. They threw us a little hint as to what the bigger plan may actually look like.
Here is the full packet presented to the City of Camdenton on March 17: (click to follow this link)
The Mayor of Camdenton needs to hear from you.
Tell him to rescind his endorsement.
The CAMDENTON CITY Aldermen need to hear from you. Tell them to adopt the county ordinance and rescind their endorsement. Click for their information.
DON NUEHARTH IS ALSO A PART OF THIS GROUP AS NOTED IN THE PHOTOGRAPH.
Don Nueharth is also an Alderman who was not shown in the photos above.
THE LINN CREEK CITY ALDERMAN NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU, TOO:
LORDEC supported this with a letter of endorsement. Here is who sits on that board.
CVB: Convention and Visitors Bureau
I apologize, but I cannot find the link to the board on the website, but I do find a common thread with LORDEC which is Heather Brown who is a part of BOTH boards that endorsed the Opportunity Zones at the lake.
STATE REP JEFF VERNETTI WITHDREW HIS SUPPORT ONCE HE FOUND OUT THE OZs included Data Centers.
While we are grateful that he withdrew his support, his quick endorsement without doing any level of research on what he was supporting is alarming. The rubber stamp needs to be put away and his commitment to read and understand what he is endorsing or voted for cannot be missed on the lake community. Jeff Vernetti needs to do better and be better to represent us. More on his bad votes that will harm lake residents later, but for now, do know he withdrew his endorsement due to his own lack of an investment in fully understanding what he was endorsing.
Stay tuned. Much more to come. This fight is not over. In many ways it has only just begun. Be educated and stay in the know. Education is power and the only way to win this war.
