Despite promises of new jobs and financial investment in the City of Joliet, many residents are against a proposal for a data center campus that could consist of 24 buildings on 800 acres of farmland east of the Chicagoland Speedway NASCAR racetrack.
If this 200,000-square-foot project in District 5 comes to fruition, city officials said it would be one of the largest type of data centers in the Chicago region. The proposal has yet to go before the Joliet City Council for discussion and vote.
Data centers are dedicated physical facility housing computing infrastructure, like servers, storage and networking, to store, process and distribute an organization’s critical data and applications that are essential for modern digital services. They are considered the backbone of the digital economy, enabling everything from social media and online banking to advanced AI.
The project proposed in Joliet is owned by Hillwood, a real estate development company in Dallas Texas. Ross Perot Jr. is board Chairman. If approved, the data center development campus would be located on Schweitzer, Ridge and Millsdale roads. While Hillwood has yet to say which companies would be located on site, Joliet officials said possibilities include technology giants like Microsoft and Meta.
Last week Hillwood launched a Joliet Center Technology Web site called Yes to Joliet Jobs. The Web site claims the project will create between 7,000 and 10,000 construction jobs and a $20 billion investment “in our local economy that strengthens Joliet’s future.”
But opponents cite environmental concerns such as increase in pollution and fossil fuel usage, possible health issues and soaring electricity costs that is required to power and cool the centers as reasons for why the project has no merit in the community.
According to Yes to Joliet Jobs Web site, Joliet Technology Center will be delivered by Hillwood and PowerHouse Data Centers, which is being described as one of the country’s foremost developers of modern digital infrastructure and a leader in delivering data centers at scale.
Resident Kevin Menard of Joliet said he is against the data center as he fears the environmental impact.
“These companies promise lots of money but its residents like us who will have to deal with high electricity costs that these data center require,” he said. “I just think we are rushing into this as more studies are needed.”
Justine Mercado of Elwood said just because something sounds financially good does not mean it will be good for the community.
“These centers bring in money but will destroy our environment,” she said. “Also, will they pay for the electric bills, or will it be passed down to homeowners? I just see this as another windmill project people were so excited about decades earlier.”
But Marcus Fuller of Joliet embraces the idea.
“We cannot afford to let fears dictate what happens,” Fuller said. “We will be left behind in the technology game if we don’t at least pursue this from every angle to make sure it is worth it for our community.”
Guillermo Rodriguez of Aurora said his community had to place a moratorium because there are numerous data center there.
“Living near a data center is a poor decision,” said Rodriguez Tuesday during the public comments portion of the city council meeting. “It is financially unsustainable because data centers are likely to be used only for generative AI. The majority of these jobs promised are temporary jobs in construction. Only 200 projected jobs will be permanent. I just hope you take these things into consideration before a vote.”
There is opposition growing across the country where residents are concerned about data centers coming to their communities. The concern is the added demand for water and energy. Rising utility cost, pollution from backup generators and the noise.
