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Yorkville tables vote on 80-acre data center near Caledonia subdivision · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Yorkville tables vote on eighty acre data center near Caledonia Subdivision.
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  Speaker 1: Written by Joey Weslow. This article is being read by
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  Speaker 1: an automated voice brought to you by Everlett. Yorkville Table
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  Speaker 1: the rezoning vote for the eighty acre Meyer Data Center
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  Speaker 1: proposed near the Caledonia subdivision. The recently downsized proposal was
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  Speaker 1: unanimously voted down by the city's Planning and Zoning Commission
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  Speaker 1: on January fourteenth, after hours of residence speaking out against
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  Speaker 1: the proposal. City Council has the power to override the
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  Speaker 1: commission's recommendation. The developers, Yorkville Nexus VLLC Greendoor Capital, have
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  Speaker 1: made changes to the proposal since the commission's vote. The
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  Speaker 1: city has not sent the proposal back to the commission
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  Speaker 1: for a second look. No new public hearings are currently scheduled.
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  Speaker 1: The City Council tabled the vote during the March twenty
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  Speaker 1: fourth meeting and is likely to take it up again
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  Speaker 1: during its April fourteenth meeting. The project site is south
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  Speaker 1: of Corneils Road and east of Beecher Road. The developers
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  Speaker 1: are requesting to rezone two western parcels totaling ninety one
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  Speaker 1: acres to manufacturing for data center usage. The developers have
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  Speaker 1: agreed to leave the thirty seven acre eastern parcel near
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  Speaker 1: Caledonia zoned for multi family residents and has donated it
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  Speaker 1: to the city. Within the site plans is a one thousand,
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  Speaker 1: five hundred foot setback to the nearest residential structure in
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  Speaker 1: Caledonia and an agreement not to develop east of rob
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  Speaker 1: Roy Creek. During the meeting, Sean Reynolds of Greendor Capital
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  Speaker 1: said a PUD would be submitted at a later date
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  Speaker 1: after an end user is found. He said the changes,
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  Speaker 1: including the increased setbacks, are designed to better accommodate the
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  Speaker 1: resident's wishes. We have listened to city and staff, we
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  Speaker 1: have listened to residents to the Eastern Caledonia and incorporated
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  Speaker 1: these things to make a great project for the city
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  Speaker 1: and residence, Reynolds said during the meeting. The middle forty
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  Speaker 1: acre parcel of the site will be limited to single
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  Speaker 1: story warehouses and an eight foot landscape burn with trees
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  Speaker 1: will shield the campus from nearby residents, he said. During
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  Speaker 1: the meeting in which city council approved the five hundred
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  Speaker 1: and forty acre project Steel Data center with sixteen two
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  Speaker 1: story warehouses. A parade of residence spoke out against turning
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  Speaker 1: the entire three thousand acre el Domain corridor into one
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  Speaker 1: giant data center alley. Residents from Caledonia express concerns with
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  Speaker 1: possible sound, light and environmental pollution, in addition to the
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  Speaker 1: unsightly nature of the warehouses so close to their homes.
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  Speaker 1: Resident Lori Tusco, who lives on Corneil's Road, said she
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  Speaker 1: was concerned about the ten minus twenty years of construction
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  Speaker 1: and the huge increase in pollution and traffic it will
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  Speaker 1: cause in the area. She admonished the number of union
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  Speaker 1: tradesmen speaking in favor of the project, saying while they
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  Speaker 1: will benefit from the work, they won't have to live
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  Speaker 1: in the middle of a manufacturing zone. The whole thing
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  Speaker 1: just stinks, Tesco said during the meeting, And for all
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  Speaker 1: these union people out here, I worked in the union
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  Speaker 1: for thirty two years, so I'm not anti union, but
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  Speaker 1: I don't need to hear this crap. Included in the
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  Speaker 1: Meyer Data Center plans, the developers have committed to a
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  Speaker 1: ten million dollar impact fee for the eighty acres of development.
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  Speaker 1: The developers have agreed to pay a non refundable prepayment
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  Speaker 1: of one million dollar at the resorting of the proposed rezoning,
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  Speaker 1: according to city documents, Similar agreements were approved by the
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  Speaker 1: city with the developers of Project Steel and separately, the
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  Speaker 1: one thousand and thirty four acre Project Cardinal data center.
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  Speaker 1: City administrator bart Olsen previously said the money is being
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  Speaker 1: sent by the city to the Yorkville School District one p.
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  Speaker 1: Fifteen for expanded facilities, the fire District, city projects, and
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  Speaker 1: charitable community organizations. The petitioner is Matt Gilbert, who is
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  Speaker 1: representing Greendor Capital with other data center projects in town,
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  Speaker 1: like the already approved two one hundred eight acres cyrus
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  Speaker 1: Ie Data Center with nine two story warehouses. During the meeting,
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  Speaker 1: Olson addressed the hot mic incident from the six hour
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  Speaker 1: March tenth meeting in which Project Cardinal won approval. During
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  Speaker 1: that meeting, with a full house and around one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and sixty five people participating on Zoom, a microphone during
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  Speaker 1: a meeting recess picked up someone mocking residents who were
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  Speaker 1: speaking out against data centers. The comments were widely discussed
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  Speaker 1: by residents in Zoom's group chat feature, and one in
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  Speaker 1: person resident addressed the city council about it. During the meeting.
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  Speaker 1: During the March twenty fourth meeting, the city disabled the
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  Speaker 1: chat feature on Zoom, so residents could not talk amongst themselves.
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  Speaker 1: One resident accused the city of silencing their voices. Olsen
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  Speaker 1: said the hot mic incident did not come from the city.
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  Speaker 1: A resident accused the city council members of speaking disrespectfully
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  Speaker 1: about members of the public during a meeting recess. Olsen
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  Speaker 1: said during the meeting the comments did not originate from
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  Speaker 1: the city elected officials or staff members.