Latest / Kendall County News - Shaw Local / Sound limits placed on CyrusOne data center in Yorkville, residents still worried about construction noise
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- 0:05Speaker 1: Sound limits placed on cyrus Ie Data Center in Yorkville,
- 0:08Speaker 1: Residents still worried about construction noise. Written by Joey Weslow,
- 0:15Speaker 1: This article is being read by an automated voice brought
- 0:18Speaker 1: to you by Everlet. With construction picking up on the
- 0:22Speaker 1: two hundred and twenty eight acre Cyrus one Data Center,
- 0:25Speaker 1: the City of Yorkville adopted new noise pollution standards for
- 0:28Speaker 1: the project. While city officials said the standards should put
- 0:33Speaker 1: the project more in line with the city's other approved
- 0:36Speaker 1: data center projects, some residents raised concerns about the lack
- 0:40Speaker 1: of safeguards during the lengthy construction period. Residents also questioned
- 0:45Speaker 1: the rules protecting residents from a cumulative noise effect from
- 0:49Speaker 1: so many data center buildings being constructed in the same area.
- 0:53Speaker 1: The city council approved a string of amendments to the
- 0:56Speaker 1: project's plans, including new water regulations and a fifteen million
- 1:00Speaker 1: dollars upfront payment from the developer to the city upon
- 1:04Speaker 1: the first building permit. The amended plans also include re
- 1:08Speaker 1: phasing construction of the project's warehouses. City administrator bart Olsen
- 1:13Speaker 1: said the city is requiring the developers to predict what
- 1:16Speaker 1: their noise output will be before the city approves the
- 1:19Speaker 1: building permit and holding them accountable after the fact. The
- 1:23Speaker 1: developers will install noise monitoring devices and submit continuous noise
- 1:27Speaker 1: monitoring studies to the city. Penalties will be imposed if
- 1:31Speaker 1: the data center campus exceeds limits. Olsen said this includes
- 1:35Speaker 1: continuous noise monitoring during construction phases. According to city documents,
- 1:40Speaker 1: the sound studies during construction are optional. Olsen said construction
- 1:45Speaker 1: noise on any project is generally exempt from the noise
- 1:48Speaker 1: Ordinance while it's occurring during weekdays. Olsen said the developers
- 1:53Speaker 1: will provide a narrative describing anticipated sources of construction noise
- 1:58Speaker 1: and anticipated timeline of can instruction and how construction activities
- 2:02Speaker 1: will comply with noise regulations. The city previously made the
- 2:06Speaker 1: developers of the one seas and thirty seven acre Project
- 2:08Speaker 1: Cardinal and the five hundred forty acre Project Steel adhere
- 2:12Speaker 1: to the city's noise ordinances. Cyrus one was initially approved
- 2:16Speaker 1: before the city implemented noise ordinances for data centers in
- 2:21Speaker 1: residential areas. The city limits sound pollution to sixty decibels
- 2:25Speaker 1: during the day and fifty decibels at night. According to
- 2:28Speaker 1: the developers, of Project Cardinal, their campus will range between
- 2:32Speaker 1: fifty five sixty decibels during the day and thirty five
- 2:35Speaker 1: forty at night because of less generators operating. Sound pollution
- 2:40Speaker 1: from a typical highway usually ranges from seventy eighty decibels
- 2:44Speaker 1: received at nearby properties. Alderman Craig Soling said he and
- 2:48Speaker 1: residence he's spoken to are skeptical about estimates cyrus One
- 2:53Speaker 1: will provide to the city regarding noise projections. Soling cited
- 2:57Speaker 1: cyrus One's data centers in Aurora and the lengthy mintication
- 3:00Speaker 1: period before they attempted mitigating residence concerns. Representatives for cyrus
- 3:06Speaker 1: One said they are spending tens of millions of dollars
- 3:09Speaker 1: to retrofit the data centers in Aurora with sound attenuation devices.
- 3:13Speaker 1: They said sound projections were not required by the City
- 3:16Speaker 1: of Aurora before the data centers were built there. We're
- 3:20Speaker 1: investing billions of dollars into Yorkville, and our ability to
- 3:24Speaker 1: operate after we've spent that money is dependent on our
- 3:27Speaker 1: sound modeling being right, the developers said. Cyrus One said
- 3:32Speaker 1: with the two closest residences to the site, they will
- 3:34Speaker 1: be significantly below the threshold of what is allowable resident lease.
- 3:40Speaker 1: Pos questioned whether the sound studies will comprehensively include all
- 3:45Speaker 1: the construction from the three data center projects happening at once.
- 3:49Speaker 1: The buildouts are going to be ten twenty years on
- 3:52Speaker 1: all three of these. That's a signific amount of construction, noise,
- 3:55Speaker 1: dust and pollution. Pass said, Is that noise study going
- 3:59Speaker 1: to have them all compiled into one? Pass said? The
- 4:03Speaker 1: city is too easily taking the developer's words on sound pollution.
- 4:07Speaker 1: We need a little bit more checks and balances here.
- 4:10Speaker 1: Pas said, You guys seem to be very trusting of
- 4:12Speaker 1: whatever these magic men say to you. I'm not that trusting.
- 4:16Speaker 1: What's the latest at the construction site. Construction at the
- 4:20Speaker 1: site began earlier this spring. Located at northeast corner of
- 4:23Speaker 1: VAXen Road and Eldamain Road. The access drive aligning with
- 4:28Speaker 1: minards has been constructed and the electrical substation has been
- 4:32Speaker 1: largely developed. Transformers will be delivered later this fall and
- 4:37Speaker 1: power will come to the site later this year or
- 4:39Speaker 1: early twenty twenty eight. The developer said. The electrification of
- 4:43Speaker 1: the site is being coordinated with Kahmed and will require
- 4:46Speaker 1: a shotdown of the nuclear facility. The eight hundred thousand
- 4:51Speaker 1: square foot electrical substation will power the campus. Cyrus One
- 4:55Speaker 1: secured a full electrical capacity allocation of four hundred and
- 4:59Speaker 1: eighty megawa from Khmed. The site will house eight single
- 5:03Speaker 1: story warehouses totaling one million, eight hundred fifty four thousand,
- 5:08Speaker 1: eight hundred and five feet. The buildings will have a
- 5:10Speaker 1: maximum height of fifty feet ten inches. The developer said
- 5:15Speaker 1: each building will take eighteen months to complete. The first
- 5:19Speaker 1: building is expected to be up and running by the
- 5:22Speaker 1: end of the first quarter of twenty twenty eight. The
- 5:25Speaker 1: developers have estimated a construction period of ten twenty years.
- 5:29Speaker 1: The first phase of warehouse construction will begin in the
- 5:32Speaker 1: northwest corner of the site. Two buildings will be erected
- 5:36Speaker 1: during that phase. The next phase of construction involves the
- 5:39Speaker 1: remaining six warehouses. The developers said the changes enabled all
- 5:44Speaker 1: the warehouses to be shifted north on the site. This
- 5:48Speaker 1: increased the separations from the two nearest residences from seven
- 5:52Speaker 1: hundred and thirty two feet to eight hundred and thirty
- 5:55Speaker 1: three feet. The developer said this now brings the project
- 5:58Speaker 1: into compliance with the city's setback rules, which were adopted
- 6:02Speaker 1: after original approval for the Cyrus one project