Topeka KS 1-year data center moratorium + utility restriction (2026)

City of Topeka, Kansas City Council — 1-year data center moratorium passed in July 2026. Subsequently amended to add utility connection restriction; council suspended its standard 4-month waiting period for ordinance amendments to expedite the change. UTILITY RESTRICTION: prohibits city staff from extending utility connections (water, power) for data center projects both inside AND outside city limits — plugs an administrative loophole that would let staff service a data center in the extraterritorial service area without council review. This extraterritorial utility restriction is a more aggressive instrument than a simple within-city permit freeze: it prevents a developer from circumventing the moratorium by locating outside city limits but connecting to Topeka utilities. GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE: (1) moratorium portion — new data center approvals within the City of Topeka; (2) utility restriction portion — city utility connections for data centers regardless of whether the data center site is inside or outside city limits. DISTINCTION FROM SHAWNEE COUNTY: Shawnee County (Shawnee County KS 6-month data center moratorium) adopted a separate 6-month county-level moratorium on August 13, 2026, covering unincorporated areas; the Topeka city measure covers the incorporated city. Topeka is the county seat and state capital of Kansas; population ~126,000. COMPASS DATACENTERS: the Shawnee County moratorium was partly triggered by a Compass Datacenters CUP application; Topeka's July moratorium predates the county's August action and may have provided the political model. effective_date and expires_date set to July 1, 2026 and July 1, 2027 as approximate placeholders (exact dates within July not confirmed).