The Montgomery County commission has heard public comment on a proposed 1,000-acre Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center in New Florence, Missouri.

As reported by KOMU 8, the response to the data center project has been mixed, with some community members in favor while others voiced concerns.

Montgomery County lies to the west of St. Louis, along the border with Illinois. Most of Missouri's data centers sit in and around Kansas City, on the state border with Kansas.

News that AWS was seeking to enter Montgomery County was revealed late last year. As per the Warren County Record, the application is for a 1,000-acre parcel located in the northeast quadrant of the Interstate 70 and Highway 19 interchange.

Filed via NorthPoint Development, LLC, the data center has been dubbed "Project Green."

AWS is planning to develop in two phases, the first of which will see eight data center buildings constructed. The second phase could see a further 13 buildings of a similar size established.

In addition, AWS will establish multiple stormwater management ponds, three wells, and a wastewater and water treatment plant on site.

Power supply will come from Ameren Missouri.

AWS is expected to close on the property in the first quarter of 2026, with Montgomery County Commission not yet having awarded building permits for the project. Purchasing and submitting official permit applications will be the next stage for the project.

During the January 12 meeting, residents shared their anxieties about the project.

Janette Seper, a resident of Montgomery County, told KOMU 8: "I have a lot of personal concern with noise, pollution, water usage, electrical usage, and I'm concerned about the data center coming in. We feel that it can affect our environment, potential home values, and the feel of the community."

Other concerns surrounded the tax abatement and incentive program awarded to AWS for the project, though the commission said the framework does not reduce AWS' real property tax payments and ensures full contribution throughout the life of the project.

New Florence is not a typical data center location, though nearby St. Louis has a small hub of facilities.

Despite this, a second data center campus was proposed for New Florence around the same time as AWS' Project Green.

The other proposal - dubbed Project Spade - is for some 780 acres in Montgomery County and a further 130 acres within the New Florence city limits.

The end user has not been shared, but has been proposed by Spade Property Owners, LLC, which is based in New York. Spade seeks to build three data center buildings, each spanning 1.08 million sq ft (100,335 sqm), and the buildings will used closed-looped cooling systems.

This campus would be located across Interstate 70 from AWS' Project Green.

Operators already in the state include TierPoint, H5, Netrality, Cogent, Lumen, Iron Mountain, Edged Energy, and Rackspace.