A marathon public hearing that went more than five hours resulted in the Joliet City Council not being able to vote on the development of a data center campus on approximately 795 acres of property currently outside the city’s boundaries.
Because the meeting went past midnight Monday and municipalities cannot hold meetings on Primary Day, the Joliet City Council will vote on the project at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
Councilwoman Suzanna Ibarra, whose 5th District the project is located, criticized the city for not having information about the data center in Spanish “disgusting” as there are many Hispanics in Joliet who are not fluent in English.
The proposed project would consist of 24 buildings on 800 acres of farmland east of the Chicagoland Speedway NASCAR racetrack, and this 200,000-square-foot project in District 5 would be one of the largest types of data centers in the Chicago region.
Data centers are a dedicated physical facility housing computing infrastructure like servers, storage and networking. It also stores, processes and distributes 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 proposed project in Joliet is spearheaded by Hillwood, and 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.
During a lengthy public hearing, residents voiced their concerns over high electricity rates, jobs only for lower-wage workers like landscapers and environmental issues associated with the project such as noise and water pollution from the data centers as 150,000 gallons of water usage will be capped per day. Many of the residents urged the council to postpone a decision for the sake of transparency and oversight. At one point during the hearing, several speakers accused some on the city council for already making a decision on the topic prior to the meeting.
Doc Gregory, president of Will-Grundy Building Trades, which has about 25,000 members, said union jobs matter to the community.
“It will provide 8,500 union construction jobs,” he said. “We are not just temporary. We are full time. We go to dinners and we go to the Rialto Theater. Joliet Technology Center is a great project.”
Abby, who didn’t give her last name from Elwood, said the city cannot put a price on people’s lives that could be impacted by possible health issues.
“What happens to people’s wells in Elwood or Manhattan?” she questioned, wondering if the aquifers will dry up from the data center usage.
Joliet resident Brandi Galena urged Mayor Terry D’Arcy to carefully consider his constituents before voting.
“I believe this is war for everything we stand for,” she said. “They are going to use us up and turn around and use (the data center) against us.”
Bonnie Larson of Joliet said she too is concerned about possible air, water and noise pollution.
“I get so scared for the people,” she said, adding residents’ concerns have been placed at the wayside.
Sean Miller of Bolingbrook said since AI is a speculation bubble, why utilize valuable land for a product that will not bring return on investment.
“In Bolingbrook, a developer in 2023 build out warehouses across the street from my sister’s school,” he said. “To date, there are no tenants. You many sit on land where you don’t see compensation for years.”
As part of the zoning process, developers are studying land use matters such as building size, traffic impacts, noise mitigation, environmental considerations, and
infrastructure capacity.
The developer will be required to obtain City Council approval of a final planned unit development plat for each phase of development, before building permits for data center buildings are issued, according to city officials.
They insist the city is also negotiating an annexation and development agreement that would bring the property into the city. This agreement will address infrastructure responsibilities and roadway improvements; water and sewer service, including usage limits to protect city resources; community benefit contributions to offset impacts on public services and infrastructure; development fees and charges; traffic study requirements; emergency services planning; construction standards and timelines; and ongoing maintenance obligations. ComEd representatives reassured the audience that grids are sufficient for continued reliability of the system.
Hillwood financial projections state the city could generate $305.7 million in new property taxes reflecting taxes generated by the general and fire protection tax rates from 2028 to 2057. Also, the project has the potential to generate more than $2 billion in sales tax revenues for the city, according to developers.
