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State Rep. Davis of Yorkville says local residents should decide data centers through referendum · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: State Rep. Davis of Yorkville says local residents should decide
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  Speaker 1: data centers through referendum. Written by Joey Weslow, this article
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  Speaker 1: is being read by an automated voice brought to you
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  Speaker 1: by Everlett. With all the noise being generated by data
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  Speaker 1: centers lately, one state representative is trying to ensure the
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  Speaker 1: most crucial voice is not being drowned out, the local residents.
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  Speaker 1: State Rep. Jed Davis ur Yorkville introduced legislation that has
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  Speaker 1: not its advanced in springfifield, but he said his proposal
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  Speaker 1: of public referendums before city data center approval must enter
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  Speaker 1: the statewide conversation. Davis proposal House Billy seven hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty five has been part of the General Assembly's recent
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  Speaker 1: focus on data center regulation. That focus also includes the
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  Speaker 1: larger House Billy five hundred and thirteen, the Power Act,
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  Speaker 1: which will likely be the main data center bill for
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  Speaker 1: future floor debates. The Power Act currently only has Democratic sponsors.
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  Speaker 1: The Power Act, which is currently stalled but has sizeable support,
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  Speaker 1: would establish comprehensive environmental, water, and energy regulations for hyper
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  Speaker 1: scale data centers. The bill requires cumulative impact assessments on
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  Speaker 1: residential and small business utility bills and prohibits non disclosure
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  Speaker 1: agreements between developers and municipalities. It also mandates periodical water
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  Speaker 1: usage reporting and requires compliance with stringent energy codes. The
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  Speaker 1: bill would also create a compensation fund for local residents
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  Speaker 1: and small businesses negatively impacted by an incoming data center.
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  Speaker 1: Davis said, while it's nice the bill requires public notice,
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  Speaker 1: it does not go far enough to ensure residents and
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  Speaker 1: local communities have the ultimate say regarding data centers. Davis
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  Speaker 1: was also skeptical that state regulatory mandates would achieve the transparency,
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  Speaker 1: the environmental and health goals that residents at city meetings
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  Speaker 1: across the region have demanded. He said, one thing is
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  Speaker 1: for certain, the vast majority of residents he was elected
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  Speaker 1: to represent are opposed to local data center construction. Their
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  Speaker 1: opposition has been in the face of the City of
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  Speaker 1: Yorkville green lighting three large data center campuses, including the
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  Speaker 1: one thousand and thirty four acre Project Cardinal, the five
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  Speaker 1: hundred and forty acre Project Steel, and the two on
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight acre cyrus Ie Data Center Campus. All together,
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  Speaker 1: thirty nine data center warehouses would be constructed in Yorkville
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  Speaker 1: across the three projects. At full build out over the
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  Speaker 1: next ten to twenty years of construction. Residents have filed
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  Speaker 1: laws suits to halt Project Cardinal and separately against Project Steel.
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  Speaker 1: The approval for each project in Yorkville came after hours
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  Speaker 1: and hours of public comments during city council meetings, with
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  Speaker 1: residents denouncing the data centers and accusing the city of
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  Speaker 1: selling out its residents for revenue promised for the city
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  Speaker 1: and schools. Residents expressed concerns of possible sound, light and
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  Speaker 1: environmental pollution, diminished quality of life and property values. Davis
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  Speaker 1: said a poll he conducted with residents within Yorkville School
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  Speaker 1: District one hundred and fifteen came back with almost ninety
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  Speaker 1: percent of residents opposing data centers in town, regardless of
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  Speaker 1: the significant tax revenues they could generate. Davis said that
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  Speaker 1: eye opening result led him to draw up a bill
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  Speaker 1: proposing a public referendum enabling residents to get the final
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  Speaker 1: say on data center construction if fifteen percent or more
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  Speaker 1: of recent voters sign a petition. I've always been a
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  Speaker 1: huge proponent of local control, Davis said. We really want
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  Speaker 1: them to have the final say because they have a
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  Speaker 1: better pulse on the community. The people I represent kind
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  Speaker 1: of felt like they didn't have a voice anymore. They've
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  Speaker 1: been very vocal on the data center issue, strongly opposed
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  Speaker 1: in several ways. I am trying to return the power
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  Speaker 1: back to their hands. Davis said he hopes other legislators
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  Speaker 1: can look to his bill when considering how to formulate
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  Speaker 1: the larger data center bill that will eventually be passed.
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  Speaker 1: In a similar light, Davis said he earlier filed a
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  Speaker 1: legislation to compensate people and small businesses who are going
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  Speaker 1: to lose property value due to data centers moving in.
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  Speaker 1: Davis said if the larger bills contains unfunded state mandates,
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  Speaker 1: it will likely lose Republican support. He said including the
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  Speaker 1: voice of local communities is a great way to create
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  Speaker 1: bipartisan momentum. While his bill is not designed to stop development,
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  Speaker 1: Davis said some communities may ultimately welcome a data center.
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  Speaker 1: The proposed process provides greater transparency and builds greater trust
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  Speaker 1: between residents and their local elected officials. For something with
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  Speaker 1: this level of impact on infrastructure and quality of life,
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  Speaker 1: residents deserve more than a meeting, They deserve a vote,
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  Speaker 1: Davis said. Mm HM