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‘Nobody wants to live in data center row’ - Residents speak out after Yorkville approves 540-acre data center · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Nobody wants to live in data center. Row residents speak
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  Speaker 1: out after Yorkville approves five hundred and forty acre data
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  Speaker 1: center Written by Joey Weslow. This article is being read
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  Speaker 1: by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett. Hour
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  Speaker 1: after hour, Yorkville residents spoke before the City Council on
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  Speaker 1: March twenty fourth, asking members to put a moratorium on
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  Speaker 1: approving data centers, all the while saying they knew the
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  Speaker 1: city would not go along with their wishes. Few of
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  Speaker 1: the residents in attendant said they were surprised when a
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  Speaker 1: four hour meeting concluded with city approval for the annexation, rezoning,
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  Speaker 1: and pud for the five hundred and forty acre Project
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  Speaker 1: Steel data center was sixteen two story warehouses. The near
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  Speaker 1: unanimous vote came after a little discussion by any aldermen.
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  Speaker 1: The events of the night mirrored the March eleventh city
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  Speaker 1: approval for the one thousand and thirty four acre Project
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  Speaker 1: Cardinal Data Center, with City Hall filled with angry residents
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  Speaker 1: opposing the manufacturing developments and union tradesmen there to support
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  Speaker 1: the project. Resident April Clary captured the sentiments of community
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  Speaker 1: members concerned the city is slating three thousand acres of
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  Speaker 1: the Aldamain Corridor for one giant data center alley, especially
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  Speaker 1: given its proximity to residential neighborhoods. A majority of us
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  Speaker 1: speaking do not feel we are being heard, that the
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  Speaker 1: fact we pay taxes does not matter, that the minds
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  Speaker 1: of city Council is already made up before any of
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  Speaker 1: us open our mouths. Clary said during the meeting, my
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  Speaker 1: concern is how many is enough? How many data centers
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  Speaker 1: is enough money for this board, for this community. Clary
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  Speaker 1: admonished the city for moving ahead with the project when
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  Speaker 1: she said residents have not received full assurances on potential
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  Speaker 1: cumulative sound, light and environmental pollution. The city has not
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  Speaker 1: yet received results from a cumulative sound pollution study the project.
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  Speaker 1: Steel project received approval votes from every council member except
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  Speaker 1: Alderman Rusty Cornels. Alderman Arden Joe Plocher championed the project,
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  Speaker 1: calling data center construction and important investment in the town's future.
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  Speaker 1: City Administrator bart Olson said all agreements are not effective
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  Speaker 1: until the property sale in closing, which should happen later
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  Speaker 1: this year. As part of the approvals, a development agreement
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  Speaker 1: between the city and developers Prolagius LP includes a forty
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  Speaker 1: million dollars upfront check by the developers to be paid
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  Speaker 1: at the time of closing. Olsen previously said the money
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  Speaker 1: is being sent by the city to the school district
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  Speaker 1: for expanded facilities, the fire District, city projects, and charitable
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  Speaker 1: community organizations. Within the check, thirty million dollars is being
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  Speaker 1: pledged straight to Yorkville School District one hundred and fifteen.
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  Speaker 1: A similar agreement was required before approval of Project Cardinal,
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  Speaker 1: with the developers offering fifty one million dollars upfront, including
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  Speaker 1: thirty eight thousand, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars straight
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  Speaker 1: to the schools. Olsen said the city is requiring continuous
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  Speaker 1: noise monitoring during construction, continuing after each building becomes fully operational.
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  Speaker 1: Excess noise pollution from rooftop generators has been an issue
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  Speaker 1: raised by residents living near data centers in towns like Aurora.
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  Speaker 1: To shield residents from the industrial warehouses and four electrical substations,
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  Speaker 1: a one hundred foot wide landscaped buffer with an eight
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  Speaker 1: foot tall berm will surround the campus, addressing residents concerns
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  Speaker 1: about water consumption. Olsen said Project Steel is an air
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  Speaker 1: cold system that will only use around twenty five thousand
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  Speaker 1: minus forty two thousand, four hundred gallons per day. He
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  Speaker 1: said twenty five thousand gallons per day is the equivalent
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  Speaker 1: water usage of ninety to one hundred and twenty homes.
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  Speaker 1: Alderman questioned why Project Steal could not be like Project Cardinal,
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  Speaker 1: which will be using zero municipal water and is trucking
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  Speaker 1: in its own water for a closed loop system. A
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  Speaker 1: parade of union tradesmen spoke in favor of the data centers,
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  Speaker 1: saying their construction will provide steady jobs. Residents into calb
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  Speaker 1: have said the Metadata Center was constructed with labor moved
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  Speaker 1: in from other states. Yorkville has not provided assurance that
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  Speaker 1: the jobs will be guaranteed for local workers. Resident neil
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  Speaker 1: Clary said while he supports the unions, most of them
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  Speaker 1: are not from this community and their opinions should not
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  Speaker 1: hold more sway over City Council as those of local residents.
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  Speaker 1: He said families will move away from Yorkville once the
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  Speaker 1: construction starts. Nobody wants to visit Data Center Row, neil
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  Speaker 1: Clary said, nobody wants to live in Data Center Row.
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  Speaker 1: How many years of construction, traffic, noise, and pollution is enough.
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  Speaker 1: Construction will be in three phases over twenty years. The
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  Speaker 1: developers are aiming to begin construction by the summer of
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven. The city is requiring each of the
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  Speaker 1: data center campus's warehouses to have a minimum five hundred
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  Speaker 1: foot building separation between them and the nearest residential or
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  Speaker 1: commercial structure. Project Steel is sixteen seventy feet from houses
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  Speaker 1: on Corneil's Road. Once each individual warehouse is up and running,
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  Speaker 1: city staff believe they can each generate between five hundred
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  Speaker 1: thousand dollars one million dollar inches annual tax revenues for
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  Speaker 1: the city's coffers. A significant portion of Project Steel is
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  Speaker 1: within the Plano School District eighty eights boundaries. The city
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  Speaker 1: is making the developers build the first warehouses within Yorkville
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and fifteen's boundaries. During the same meeting, City
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  Speaker 1: Council agreed to table the annexation vote for the eighty
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  Speaker 1: acre Meyer Data Center near the Caledonia subdivision for the
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  Speaker 1: next meeting. H