Dear Chamber Supporters,

It felt a little strange this morning with no Chamber Coffee to start our Friday off. We’ll start those up again in 2025, following just a few weeks off for the holidays. If you’re interested in hosting a Chamber networking event in 2025, Sherri Lund is your gal (email here). We seem to be consistently booking these over a month or so in advance, so if there is an extra special date this next calendar year, you might put it on our radar so it doesn’t get booked underneath you. As always, we hope to accommodate these as we get requests; I look forward to each and every one!

Proximity Park Finds Its Match

This Wednesday, City Hall announced big news during their weekly commission meeting. Proximity Park has a suiter, as Lightfield Energy has agreed to move forward with the purchase of all 300 acres at the shovel-ready industrial park south of Ottawa. For those unfamiliar, Proximity Park was developed as a joint venture between the City of Ottawa and Franklin County Government with voter-supported infrastructure investments. By preparing a location like Proximity Park, our city and county laid a foundation for long-term economic growth. By providing infrastructure and making the site development-ready, our community became more appealing to companies seeking to expand or relocate. This is necessary in the competitive market we’ve seen over the last decade. This sales tax was adopted in 2015, and since the improvements began, Franklin County Development Council has been looking for the right industry or even industries to bring to town.

Over the years, many businesses have window-shopped, and a few have even come to town to be wined and dined. Unfortunately, all ultimately chose other communities to locate to. But when conversations with Lightfield Energy began this past August, things went differently! Many deciding factors go into making this decision for both sides. Industries are looking for things like workforce availability, infrastructure (electricity, gas, water, internet), economic incentives, and more. Our community also has some guidelines to direct the kind of business we want to see land in Proximity Park. Four to five months of communicating information between stakeholders takes significant time and resources. All parties involved (FCDC, City of Ottawa, Franklin County, and more) in this deal have given so much of their energy throughout the last nine years to make a deal possible. Especially hard this year to move the deal with Lightfield Energy to where it is now.

Lightfield Energy has proposed that the 300 acres will be used for a cutting-edge natural gas-fueled electrical generation facility and a data processing campus in south Ottawa. These facilities will create a projected 100–300 permanent jobs. Data centers, like the one planned for Proximity Park, are critical infrastructure in today’s digital age. They house vast numbers of computer servers and networking equipment that process and store the data powering modern technology. From streaming your favorite shows and storing photos on the cloud to running AI algorithms, data centers are the backbone of the internet and the digital services we rely on daily. As demand for digital products and AI technology continues to grow, companies are often building data centers with dedicated energy sources to meet the immense power requirements of these facilities. Lightfield Energy’s proposed data campus will do just this by integrating on-site power generation, ensuring reliable and sustainable energy for operations, all while minimizing strain on our local power grid.

This news comes at a great time, right before the new year. Lightfield was asked in the commission meeting about timelines and when they expected to get started. They replied that they need to take final approval steps that have been put before them, but they are excited to get started ASAP. With any big news comes some general confusion or shock to community members. For this reason, a FAQ document has been released to help everyone iron out some of the details (see that here). When speaking online or in person, it’s important we continue to lift one another up, have productive dialogue, and communicate clearly how this change will impact our community. This really is a massive win for Ottawa and Franklin County. Kudos to those who dreamt the whole thing up a decade ago and allowed it to be a possibility. And to those who have put in the work over the years to find the right industry for our community. In the not-so-distant future, we will forget what it’s like not to have an industry in Proximity Park. What a great time to be in Ottawa and Franklin County!

You’re Invited!

This week, you have hopefully received both your physical and virtual invitations to the Chamber’s Annual Awards and Banquet on January 16. If you haven’t seen that quite yet, please accept this invitation (click here)! We are so excited to celebrate all the good that has happened in 2024―we hope you and your business choose to join in. I have received some questions about the banquet that I thought would be worth answering here.

What to expect on the night of the banquet; food and drinks, the opportunity to network with so many of our members, celebrate the accomplishments of some annual award winners, and support your Chamber through your attendance/sponsorship/silent and live auction bidding.
What to wear; it’ll probably be too chilly for shorts… But many wear business casual, and some more dressy. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t own a suit or dress, your nicest pair of jeans will do! We hope everyone feels comfortable while also having the opportunity to spruce up (which means Makayla and I can get a nice picture together).
Who’s invited; everyone! Make sure your friends, significant other, family members, and coworkers all have tickets. The more the merrier!

If you would like to register now, click this link to get sent to our website (click here). If you have any questions, send us an email or give us a call, and we’ll help get you sorted.

Because of Christmas falling on a Wednesday, we will be closing the office for a full week starting Monday the 23rd. You can reach us again from the 30th onward! We hope you also get the chance to unwind after a busy year. If you need to reach us, shoot us an email or voicemail and we’ll get back to you as soon as we get the chance. See you next year!

Ryland Miller

President/CEO

Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce

ryland@ottawakansas.org

785-242-1000