When Michele Ridenour found out that server farms were going to be built along State Road RB in Danville, she quickly decided to do something about it.

The Montgomery City resident started a petition called Stand For Our Land on Nov. 21 to get signatures from residents who oppose having 250,000-square foot server farms, also known as data centers, being constructed on the road. So far, the petition, which is available at Change.org, has over 300 signatures.

“I can’t believe it,” said Ridenour, who works as a rural mail carrier.

Ridenour has been living in Montgomery County for 40 years. She grew up at her grandparents farm, which was located off State Road RB. The farm was purchased by her grandparents nearly 50 years ago.

“When I say your roots run deep, they run pretty deep there,” Ridenour said.

Ridenour said the construction of the server farms along State Road RB will destroy the natural surroundings around the area, causing problems such as decline in wildlife, noise pollution and a strain in water supply.

“It’s really sad to me the thought of that much land being destroyed,” Ridenour said. “I’m trying to get a hold of the Missouri Department of Conservation. I’m not saying it can’t happen in other places, a state road that would lead to a conservation area. But there has never been anything out there before. Nothing like this.”

Ridenour said she found out about the construction of server farms while attending a Planning and Zoning meeting on Nov. 19 at the Montgomery County Courthouse.

“When we went to the meeting, all of us and the rest of the land owners out there were bamboozled because we were not informed that there were already plans, if they go through, of this server/data farm,” Ridenour said. “There was this Brock Tomlinson guy there. We were all in shock when they were saying we had so many minutes to speak. So we literally learned about what they had planned for it. It was not a good deal.”

A server farm includes a collection of servers that team up to store, process and share large amounts of data. Ridenour learned during the meeting that there could be up to 30 server farms that will be constructed.

“I feel very strongly that it’s too much,” Ridenour said. “It goes almost two miles from the beginning of RB all of the way to where you enter at the Danville Wildlife Area to the actual road. It’s huge. They’re going to take away all of that land. Where would the animals, birds and eagles go?”

Ridenour said she informed the Montgomery County Commission – 1st District Commissioner Dave Teeter, 2nd District Commissioner Doug Lensing and Presiding Commissioner Ryan Poston – during the Planning and Zoning meeting that she started creating her petition.

“I just thought I would give it a go because it doesn’t hurt,” Ridenour said. “If you don’t try, you never know.”

Poston said he, Teeter and Lensing are studying the information about the server farms and will make a decision in the Dec. 19 commission meeting.

“Data centers are going to be a big buzzword here,” Poston said.”They want data centers in the United States, not in China, India or everywhere else.”