Scope
Kansas City Ordinance 251031 (Committee Substitute) amends Chapter 88, the Zoning and Development Code, to create Section 88-339, "Data Centers", with use standards for data centers, and Section 88-353 for large format uses. Under 88-339 all data centers must submit a Service Availability (Will Serve) Letter from local utility providers confirming capacity and commitment to serve the proposed data center; review bodies must consider that utility commitment when evaluating a special use permit or development plan; data centers with a continuous gross floor area of more than 500,000 square feet are large format uses subject to Section 88-353; and in B and D districts data centers require a special use permit and may not exceed 50% of the ground-floor gross floor area of a building with street frontage. It applies only within Kansas City, Missouri.
- Geographic scope
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Jurisdiction
- Local
- Authority type
- Local government
- Issuing authority
- Kansas City City Council
Dates
- Adopted
- 15 January 2026
- Effective
- Effective date not stated in the source
- Scheduled expiration
- See completion condition
- Ended
- Not recorded as ended
- Completion condition
- The ordinance states no expiration.
- Source document
- The source page states no document date
- Last checked
- 23 September 2026 (earlier than tracker date 5 October 2026; not an automatic status change)
Summary
On 15 January 2026 the Kansas City, Missouri City Council passed Ordinance 251031, a committee substitute that adds data center use standards to the city zoning code. Every data center must file a will-serve letter from local utility providers confirming they can serve its demand, and review bodies must weigh that commitment. Data centers over 500,000 square feet are treated as large format uses, and in B and D districts data centers need a special use permit and are limited to half of a street-fronting building's ground floor. The ordinance is a city zoning rule, not a moratorium, and it does not decide any individual project.
What this does not establish
- The effective day is not printed in the ordinance text or the Legistar matter, so no effective day is stored; the passage day comes from the Legistar matter record.
- The record summarizes the data center provisions only. The ordinance also changes use tables, large format use standards, and other definitions that are not restated.
- Earlier Kansas City data center matters found in Legistar (a 2025 resolution on incentive alignment and a 2026 task-force ordinance) were held in committee on 23 September 2026 and are not part of this record.
- Kansas City Resolution 260075 (a directive to the City Manager to review utility and incentive impacts) is a separate instrument recorded separately.
Unresolved questions
None recorded.
Relationships
Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. Repeal links identify the repeal instrument and the measure it ends. A later implementation or related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.
- No related action is recorded.
Sources
https://clerk.kcmo.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7770725&GUID=10583898-2974-4B4E-B032-0FB3FD070094
- Kansas City Legistar matter 251031 (status and passage) Official status Passed, passed 15 January 2026 · 15 January 2026
- Machine-readable copy of the same official record official data feed for the record linked as the primary source