Proposed DeKalb data center plan gets preliminary OK from panel

DeKALB – Preliminary plans for a second data center on DeKalb’s south side at the corner of Gurler and Peace roads were met favorably by a DeKalb panel this week, and residents will have another chance to weigh in at a public hearing Monday before the City Council.

The DeKalb Planning and Zoning Commission made a unanimous recommendation Monday to amend city code to allow for a seven-building data center on 132 acres of land at Peace and Gurler roads. The recommendation is expected to be considered at the next council meeting, set for 6 p.m. Monday at the DeKalb Public Library, 309 Oak St.

No decision on either a preliminary or final development plan was put to a vote.

The interested party behind a new data center also has not been identified in city public documents.

Attorney Matt Norton, a partner at Burke, Warren, MacKay and Serritella, spoke on behalf of the petitioner, Karis Acquisitions, during the meeting, urging the panel to support the request to help move the proposed development forward.

“Data centers are an enumerated permitted use in several of the industrial districts already,” Norton said. “We believe it’s appropriate to add that permitted use to this portion of the [Planned Development-Industrial] district. The existing uses around us are largely industrial or vacant land that is planned in the [Comprehensive] Plan for industrial.”

[ Data center proposed on 132 acres in DeKalb ]

The 132-acre property previously was annexed and zoned by the city of DeKalb in 2023, officials said.

The proposal also included a 17.5-acre electrical substation that would go at the southeast corner of the development. Officials said the placement of the substation is intentional, meant to accommodate ComEd’s plans and also align with the data center campus’ appearance, which they called the “front door” to industry built along the Interstate 88 corridor, documents show.

Norton said the matter before the panel needs to be tidied up.

“When a property is zoned in the PD-I district, the City Council establishes the uses,” Norton said. “The various industrial uses were established by the approved ordinance. Data centers was not one of them. [It] probably should have been at that time in light of the trend of development. So we’d like to clean that up with this amendment that we’re asking for this evening.”

Earlville resident Roy Jones criticized plans for the proposed data center.

“Working on further data center proposals, we’re closer to falling out of line with best practices in land management stewardship and reluctantly closer to recognizing the [modus operandi] of DeKalb is corporate sponsorship,” Jones said. “Residents of DeKalb County see investment company power projects blooming on small parcels. But where’s the residential benefit without us holding a core value of energy independence?

“Planning and zoning, thus far, is getting a perpetual lease of our land and resources to out-of-state entities at a flat rate with a promise of many jobs. However, when looking at the population of DeKalb and knowing workers in the city commute from across the county, few jobs actually arrive with these data centers, which seems like a small promise to me.”

[ Inside secret contracts used to entice Facebook, Kraft Heinz, Ferrara Candy Co., Amazon to DeKalb ]

With seven buildings projected, the proposed development is estimated to generate about 75 to 100 new jobs per building, project leaders said.

Commissioner Jerry Wright questioned the amount of traffic the proposed data center would generate.

David Dicks, vice president of development for Karis Acquisitions, said it would be mainly vehicular traffic by employees.

“We did a traffic study,” Dicks said. “The impacts were very, very minimal.”

City Planner Dan Olson said that although there’s been some concern in the community about the location of the ComEd substation, the city supports the proposed location as amended.

“We want to maintain that campus look as you go south on Peace Road to the roundabout,” Olson said. “It’s a very attractive look there. We want to maintain that all around Gurler [Road], too.”

Commissioner Jerry Wright asked why the ComEd substation was relocated from where it originally was proposed in the lead-up to Monday’s meeting.

“The ComEd [sub]station was shifted,” Wright said. “What was the main reason for the shift?”

Olson said it was all related to the aesthetics of the development’s site. Also in the vicinity is Meta’s DeKalb Data Center, which went online in November.

“The city had some concerns about the location of [the substation] along Peace Road right at the entrance to that whole area, as was the concern by Mr. [Jerry] Krasinski,” Olson said. “As one enters, that’s the main [entrance]. … With Kraft Heinz under construction, Meta, we want a nice campus look as you’re driving south of Peace Road to Gurler Road. We asked that to be [changed] but moved to a more interior location. They worked with ComEd and the engineer to put that in a little better position.”

A vote on the actual development will be required before construction of the proposed data center may begin.

If approved, the development of the proposed data center would make for the second to set up shop in DeKalb.