When an unfamiliar use arrives
A hearing room is
not a community.
Ten years ago it was wind. Five years ago it was solar. Today it is data centers, and tomorrow it is whatever comes next.
Sources: Data Center Watch, Q2 2026 report, April to June 2026 (at least 45 projects, nearly $68 billion). Brookings Institution, Turner Lee and West, "Data center moratoriums are not a substitute for oversight," July 28, 2026 (states and localities). Data Center Watch, report covering May 2024 to March 2025 (55/45, officials in districts with projects of 50 MW or more).
The problem we solve
The technology changes. The problem does not.
A company buys a building. The use is permitted by right, or close enough that nobody has a definition to argue with. The application moves. Then a room fills up, and a city that thought it was processing a permit discovers it is in a fight. The fight is not really about the technology. It is about whether anyone is telling the truth, and whether the people in the room speak for the town. Those are answerable questions. Almost nobody answers them. So the council votes on the only evidence it has, which is the twenty people who keep showing up. And whichever way it votes, half the town believes it was never heard.
By the time most cities call anyone, three things have gone wrong
None of that is fixed by another meeting.
Who we serve
Three doors. One standard.
We work for whoever needs the truth about a community. What does not change is how we get it, and what we will and will not do with it.
Who decides
Public Sector
Governing bodies and public agencies facing a first application for an unfamiliar use, rewriting a code after a fight, or trying to find out what the quiet majority thinks before they vote. It also covers the public bodies pulled into a siting fight without ever having applied for anything.
- Planning commissions and city councils
- Development services and planning staff
- County commissions and boards
- Tax increment, abatement and assessment boards
- Rural water districts and public utilities
- School, fire and library districts
- Port authorities and industrial districts
- Regional planning bodies and councils of government
- Utility commissions and consumer advocate offices
- State agencies and economic development offices
- Code and comprehensive plan updates
Who asks, with stipulations
Applicants & Developers
We will work with the private side. We will not work for it in the ordinary sense, and the terms are not negotiable. They are listed in full below, and we put them on the table in the first meeting rather than the fourth.
- Developers and site owners
- Operators and end users
- Utilities and interconnection partners
- Investors conducting siting diligence
Who lives with it
Community & Institutions
The residents, associations and institutions who will still be here long after the hearing. A hearing room is not a community, and the people who show up are not the only people who count.
- Neighborhood and homeowner associations
- Residents and resident coalitions
- Faith institutions and congregations
- Community nonprofits and CDCs
- Community foundations that fund local capacity
- School and parent organizations
Community foundations that fund public engagement can commission the same work, under the same standard.
The community is who this work is for. Residents take part through the engagement itself, and can follow what is happening across the country in The Nash Group Data Center Briefing.
The private sector stipulations
Six conditions. No exceptions.
Our product is neutrality. Sell either side a result and the product is gone, and it does not come back.
Whatever the community says, it is released in full, on a date set before the work begins. We do not write a private report you can put in a drawer.
We will not testify for your application, appear as your representative at a hearing, or lobby the governing body. We report what we found. You make your own case.
Before we speak to a single resident, the city or county knows who we are, what we are doing, and who is paying for it. Nobody finds out later.
You may say you retained The Nash Group to conduct independent engagement. You may not say, imply, or print that we support the project.
Our fee never depends on an approval, a permit, a vote, or a closing. A contingent fee buys a conclusion, and we do not sell conclusions.
We will not take the applicant and the jurisdiction on the same project, in the same cycle, ever. If we hold one, the other is declined.
If any of those six is a problem, we are not the right firm for you, and we will say so in the first meeting. That is not posturing. It is the only reason the work is worth anything.
Position
What we are, and what we are not.
We are not here to stop your project
We are not an advocacy group and we take no position on whether a use belongs in your town. That is the governing body's decision, and we say so, in public, before the first meeting.
We are not anyone's public relations department
We do not sell approval and we do not sell denial. If we told a client what they wanted to hear, the report would be worthless the first time somebody checked it.
We are the third party in the middle
We find out what a community actually thinks, using methods that hold up when they are questioned, and we explain the technology honestly, including the parts that are inconvenient for everybody.
How an engagement is shaped
Three ways in. Same standard.
Built from the seven services below. Pick the one that matches where you are standing, and we will scope it to your jurisdiction from there.
Readiness
Before anything is filed
For a jurisdiction that can see this coming and wants to be ready before the first application lands. The smallest engagement that still produces a defensible record.
What you get
- The Neutrality & Scope Protocol, published before meeting one
- An Emerging Industry Register and plain language profiles of the uses you are likely to face
- One public education session, delivered in person
- A written readiness memo to the governing body
Not included
- No representative survey
- No door to door canvassing
- No findings report built for the code
What you supply
- A staff point of contact
- Your current code and comprehensive plan
- Any application or inquiry already received
Engagement
The standard engagement
For a jurisdiction with an application in front of it, or one rewriting a code after a fight. This is the engagement most governing bodies actually need, and the one the firm is built around.
What you get
- Everything in Readiness
- A statistically representative community assessment by telephone and mail, with published methodology and margin of error
- An in person campaign: facilitated town halls with live translation, pop up stations, faith and civic partnerships
- A findings report organized to your code sections, with the verbatim record and participation log
- One presentation to the council or commission
Not included
- No code drafting. We write the record the code is built on, not the code
- No testimony and no appearing as anyone's representative
- No post decision advocacy
What you supply
- A staff point of contact
- Your current code and comprehensive plan
- Resident and utility lists you already hold
- Access to schedule public sessions
Full Engagement
Through the hearing and after
For a jurisdiction facing a contested decision that will be appealed, litigated or relitigated politically. Adds the owned channel work and the preparation only someone who has sat in that chair can deliver.
What you get
- Everything in Engagement
- Owned channel strategy: utility billing inserts, municipal social channels, existing resident list activation, with effectiveness reporting
- Governing body and staff readiness: hearing preparation, question mapping, staff report and record review
- Public meeting conduct and de-escalation guidance
- Post decision communication planning
Not included
- No code drafting
- No testimony and no advocacy, before or after the vote
- No ongoing retainer unless separately agreed
What you supply
- Everything in Engagement
- Access to the staff preparing the report
- The hearing calendar as early as you have it
Every engagement is scoped to the jurisdiction, so the fee is quoted after a scoping conversation and never as a contingency. The six conditions below apply to all three without exception.
Our services
Seven emerging industry engagement services.
Every one of them is use agnostic. Swap data center for battery storage, or for whatever arrives next.
Emerging Industry Register & Briefing
Plain Language, From A Third Party
We identify the uses a community is about to face and write plain language profiles of each one. What the use is, what it requires, and what it does not do. Delivered in public, by someone with nothing to gain from the answer.
- Emerging use identification and screening
- Plain language technical profiles
- Myth and claim verification, both directions
- Public education sessions and materials
Credential
Assistant Teaching Professor at a major university, teaching real estate fundamentals, principles and development, plus active developer practice
Representative Community Assessment
What The Whole Town Thinks
A statistically representative survey by telephone or mail, so the governing body learns what the community thinks rather than only what the hearing room says. An open online survey is self selected and cannot answer that question. This one can.
- Statistically representative sampling
- Telephone and mail instruments
- Subgroup analysis by geography and tenure
- Published methodology and margin of error
Credential
Master of Urban Planning (USC), HDFP and EDFP certifications, quantitative research training
In Person Engagement Campaign
Meeting People Where They Actually Are
Town halls, pop ups where people already gather, faith partnerships, walking audits and bilingual delivery. Built for the households that do not open email, which in a small town is most of them.
- Facilitated town halls with live translation
- Pop up stations at existing gatherings
- Faith community and civic partnerships
- Door to door canvassing and walking audits
Credential
Section 8 upbringing, Prospect Corridor fieldwork, eight years of City Council constituent services, bilingual team
Owned Channel Strategy
Using What The Jurisdiction Already Has
We run outreach through channels the client already owns. A utility bill insert reaches every household. An active municipal social page already has the audience. Using them costs nothing and signals stewardship rather than spending.
- Utility billing and newsletter inserts
- Municipal social channel strategy and drafting
- Existing resident list activation
- Channel effectiveness reporting
Credential
Former Kansas City Councilman, 1999 to 2007, with eight years of constituent communications
Neutrality & Scope Protocol
Rules Published Before Meeting One
Written ground rules, published in advance, stating exactly what this process can and cannot decide. This is what keeps residents from arriving believing the engagement can undo a decision that has already been made, which is the failure that leaves a jurisdiction worse off than before it hired anyone.
- Published scope and decision rights statement
- Conflict and funding disclosure
- Ground rules for facilitated sessions
- Escalation and complaint procedure
Credential
Former Chair, Planning, Zoning & Economic Development Committee, 2003 to 2007, plus J.D.
Findings Report Built For The Code
A Record The Governing Body Can Defend
The engagement report written so it drops straight into a unified development code update or a zoning text amendment. We do not write the code. We write the record the code is built on, in a form the next consultant can actually use.
- Findings organized to code sections
- Verbatim record and participation log
- Defensible methodology appendix
- Council and commission presentation
Credential
Master of Urban Planning (USC), former Planning and Zoning Chair, J.D. plus MBA
Governing Body & Staff Readiness
Ready For The Room
Preparing the council, the commission and the staff for the hearing itself. What the questions will be, which ones have real answers, where the record is thin, and how to conduct a meeting that a hostile room still recognizes as fair. This is the piece only someone who has sat in that chair can deliver.
- Hearing preparation and question mapping
- Staff report and record review
- Public meeting conduct and de-escalation
- Post decision communication planning
Credential
Eight years on the Kansas City Council, four of them as Chair of Planning, Zoning & Economic Development, and former Vice Chairman, Missouri Housing Development Commission (2009 to 2017)
Why we are qualified
Why a third party, and why this one.
Public education about an unfamiliar use has to come from someone with nothing to gain from the answer.
We Have Sat In That Chair
Eight years on the Kansas City Council, four as Chair of Planning, Zoning & Economic Development. We know what it is like when a room turns.
We Are Active Developers
Which means the education we deliver is accurate rather than merely reassuring. We know what a use actually requires.
We Teach This
Assistant Teaching Professor at a major university, teaching real estate fundamentals, principles and development. Residents hear an expert, not a contractor.
We Do Not Engage From A Conference Room
Our co-founder camped six days on one of Kansas City's hardest corners and moved into a troubled housing complex for a month to see it himself.
Why this exists now
Communities are being asked to evaluate uses they have never seen
This is not a category the firm invented to look current. Public buyers are paying for exactly this work.
Onondaga County, New York put a data center study out to bid and its planning director drew the line himself: it is not a pro data center study, it is an effort to gather, evaluate and synthesize available information in an objective manner so that local governments can make informed decisions. Five towns in that county already sit under one year moratoriums and another has banned the use outright.
Springfield, Missouri ran the same play. Its council heard a first reading in June 2026 on a 120 day administrative delay covering data center development, and the city and City Utilities then scheduled public engagement sessions in August and September to set a policy framework before evaluating specific projects.
That is exactly the problem this practice was built for: a use with no local precedent, a community with legitimate questions, and a council that has to decide anyway. The engagement has to be genuinely independent or the result will not hold.
Source: Onondaga County, New York, Division of Purchase, Request for Proposals 26-3510-002, Data Center Study, released 6 July 2026, and WRVO Public Media, “Onondaga County says data center study will be neutral”, 18 June 2026. Both read 23 September 2026. Source: City of Springfield, Missouri, “City to host public engagement sessions on data centers in August and September”, 14 August 2026, read 23 September 2026.
What cities have brought before him
He has sat in the chair your council is sitting in.
Eight years on the Kansas City Council: four as vice chair and four as chair of the Planning, Zoning and Economic Development Committee, and vice chair of Budget and Audit. Then 2014 to 2019 on the city’s Tax Increment Financing Commission. Kansas City covers 313.5 square miles of land, 13th largest by land area among U.S. cities of 100,000 or more in the 2000 Census.
Our team consists of four USC-trained urban planners, plus professional degrees in architecture, law, economics, and nonprofit management.
Incentives and oversight
As the new chair he took on the city’s development incentive policy, then moved to make sure abatements from the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority were not abused.
Kansas City Business Journal, June 13, 2003 ↗Tax increment financing
His committee granted HCA Inc.’s request to activate the rest of the Southtown tax increment financing district.
Kansas City Business Journal, February 19, 2004 ↗A downtown district built on public bonds
He chaired the committee as the council tied the city’s fortunes to the Power & Light District by issuing more than $295 million in bonds in 2005 and 2006.
Kansas City Business Journal, December 22, 2006 ↗A 12-block redevelopment
The East Village plan for a 12-block area east of City Hall came before his committee, with state financing still to secure.
Kansas City Business Journal, January 11, 2006 ↗A neighborhood that said no
Residents gathered some 3,000-plus signatures against a plan to demolish the Seven Oaks Shopping Center and Leon’s Thriftway. He introduced the ordinance to keep it.
The Call, October 8, 2004 ↗The largest development project in Missouri history
He served on the TIF Commission when it unanimously approved the amended agreement for Cerner’s campus, reimbursing about $1.75 billion of $4.45 billion in costs.
Kansas City Star, April 13, 2016 ↗Request a briefing
Facing a use your community has never seen?
Four fields. It goes straight to Dr. Troy Nash.
Free downloads
Three council briefings
Short, printable PDFs quoted from the sources in our data center library.
Resource library
The National Data Center Resource Library
Sources on data centers from federal agencies, state legislatures, local governments, researchers and the industry itself. A sample is open now; the full library comes with The Nash Group Data Center Briefing.
Stop guessing at the twenty people in the room.
If your council is hearing from the same faces every month and you still do not know what your community believes, that is the problem we solve. And we will tell you the answer whether or not you like it.