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Mary and Howard Hoff like to describe their 8-acre property on Bly Road in eastern Independence — a former working cattle farm anchored by a stately house — as “a slice of heaven.” Over the years, they’ve hosted family reunions, team banquets, chili cookouts and dozens of other outdoor gatherings. They frequently use golf carts to drive between neighbors, leaving their back gates open in case someone wants to say hello. But now, when Howard Hoff pilots his golf cart from the top of his property to the bottom, he sees rows of bulldozers tearing into the earth where construction is soon set to begin on a data center that will fuel artificial intelligence. European AI company Nebius plans to build a 400-acre data center in eastern Independence, in a rural patch of land off of U.S. Highway 24 and Little Blue Parkway zoned as an industrial corridor. Since Nebius purchased the land from a Kansas City developer in November, some city leaders have touted the data center as a financial windfall and a mark of progress for Independence, expected to bring in significant tax revenue to the city and its school districts. But over on Bly Road, the Hoffs and their neighbors worry that the arrival of the data center could mean the end of their quiet, community-oriented way of life. Get the full story at the link above. #Independence #DataCenter #AI #LocalNews
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