Latest / Kendall County News - Shaw Local / Yorkville data center approval comes after nearly 6-hour contentious City Council meeting

Transcript

Yorkville data center approval comes after nearly 6-hour contentious City Council meeting · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Yorkville data center approval comes after nearly six hour contentious
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: city council meeting. Written by Joey Weslow, this article is
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: At the end of a nearly six hour meeting mostly
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: filled with residents speaking against data center construction, the Yorkville
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: City Council approved a one thousand and thirty seven acre
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: project that says will redefine the town's future. The vote
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: came at twelve fifty one am Wednesday. The meeting began
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: at seven pm Tuesday. Overs Seating was needed to fit
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: everyone in attendance into the council chambers, with another six
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: to sixty five people participating over zoom. City Council approved
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the necessary annexation, rezoning, utility and infrastructure agreements for the
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: project Cardinal Data Center, that will include fourteen warehouses totaling
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: seventeen million square feet. The only dissenting vote came from
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Alderman Rusty Corneills. The city had previously approved the developer
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Pioneer Development LLC planned unit development on November tenth, twenty
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: twenty five. The City council on March tenth also approved
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: a development agreement with Pioneer Development, including a fifty one
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: million dollar upfront offer to be paid over the next
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: four years. The city previously said the money will be
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: sent to the school District, the fire District, city projects,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: and charitable community organizations. The development agreement money is likely
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: being combined with another forty million dollars from the developer's
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: prologist LP of the five forty acre Project Steel Data
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Center that will have eighteen warehouses totaling nine million square feet.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: The combined ninety one million dollar contribution from both projects
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: is subject to full approval for both projects, the city
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: said sixty eight two hundred and fifty thousand dollars of
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: the funds is potentially being sent directly to the school
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: district for facility improvements. City administrator bart Olsen said the
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: property deal for Project Cardinals should close this fall. COMED
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: still needs to grant full power allocation to the sites
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: for them to be finalized. Olson said the votes for
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Project Steals, Planned Unit Development, Annexation, rezoning, and development agreement
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: are pushed back to the next City Council meeting at
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the earliest as the city is still negotiating final pieces
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: of all of their agreements. Several residents speaking out against
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the data centers, expected a vote on Project Steal during
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: the lengthy March tenth meeting. Before the vote on Project Cardinal,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: there was little discussion by the aldermen amidst the vocal
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: opposition from residents. Alderman Craig Soling made a motion to
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: table the votes to enable time for more impact environmental
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and health studies. No Alderman seconded his motion, so ultimately
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the vote proceeded. Seling voted yes on all measures for
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Project Cardinal, arguing data centers have less of a negative
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: impact than other manufacturing or industrial uses that could be
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: built in the el Domain corridor, which the city is
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: slating for around a dozen data center projects stretched across
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: more than three thousand acres. If we say no, it's
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: still an industrial corridor, Seling said. During the meeting, several
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: residents called for a moratorium on data center construction and
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: for the projects to be written into a public referendum.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: During the meeting, several representatives from trades and construction unions
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: showed their support for the data centers, arguing the steady
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: flow of jobs over the ten twenty year construction period
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: will help support the local economy. As the meeting stretched on,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: one resident after another voiced opposition to the day center,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: citing the proximity of the warehouses to their homes, as
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: well as health and environmental concerns. Residents expressed concerns about
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the sound, light and air pollution, especially across the duration
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: of the lengthy construction period. Resident Maria Torres said families
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: should not be forced to live across the street from
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: data centers. She accused the city of being in it
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: for the money, saying families will move away because the
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: city doesn't care about their well being. Resident Christine Dupler
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: said the development agreement was a drop in the bucket
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: for the developers, who said forsaking the future of Yorkville's
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: children was not worth selling your souls for. Pioneer Development
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: said a seventy acre parcel north of Bristol Bay was
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: being donated for recreational purposes. Addressing water usage concerns, the
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: developers said the data center will now utilize an air
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: cooled closed loop system, which dramatically reduces the amount of
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: water used daily to around forty two thousand, five hundred gallons.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Developers originally said it would use three hundred and fifty
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: thousand gallons daily. Matt mccerrn, a manager with Pioneer Development,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: said no municipal water will be used for cooling. He
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: also addressed air quality, saying the effect on air pollution
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: will be minimal. Resident Karen McNamara said turning the area
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: into industrial hurts the enjoyment of Yorkville life, arguing that
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: property values of homes near the construction will decrease. After
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: the vote was taken, one resident speaking to the city
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: council said, you guys sold us out. Shame on you.