November 04, 2024
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From tractors to processors, land around Yorkville targeted for data centers

270-acre development could become fourth campus approved in recent months

By Joey Weslo
270 acres of unincorporated farmland is the site of another data center campus development project proposal with the city of Yorkville by developers Daniels Malinski Yorkville Family, LLP.

270 acres of unincorporated farmland is the site of another data center campus development project proposal with the city of Yorkville by developers Daniels Malinski Yorkville Family, LLP. (Provided by the City of Yorkville)

Another day another data center proposed for the farm fields surrounding Yorkville. As the city recently took steps to develop three other large agricultural parcels into massive data center campuses, another 270 acres of green might transition from crop to gigabyte.

City officials are holding a public hearing at the Nov. 12 city council meeting to discuss annexing the parcel, which currently sits in unincorporated Kendall County. A public hearing for rezoning the property to allow industrial manufacturing takes place the following day during the Planning and Zoning Commission.

The proposed site is located north of U.S. 34, west of Beecher Road and Kendall Marketplace, and adjacent to Eldamain Road. Half of the slated area belongs to the Rob Roy Drainage District with Rob Roy Creek carrying the surrounding pastures’ stormwater out to the Fox River.

City ordinance requires a community meeting be held by the petitioner, Daniels Malinski Yorkville Family, LLP, for surrounding neighborhood property owners explaining the proposed annexation.

In the city’s 2016 Comprehensive Plan, the site was designated for the future annexation and development of a suburban neighborhood with single-family residential homes.

The latest development proposal carries over the trend from this summer, in which three separate data center campuses were approved by City Council. These approvals include a 228-acre site to be developed by CyrusOne that will feature nine two-story buildings and an electrical substation on its campus.

City Administrator Bart Olson has said data center developments are desirable because the sites generate millions in tax revenues for the city with minimal staffing requirements. Each of the nine buildings of the 228-acre site are expected to generate $1 million in tax revenues annually once fully operational.

The city also approved the conversion of 138-acres of crops into a data center campus by developers Green Door Capital on the Hagemann Property, following annexation and rezoning of the farmland located east of Eldamain Road and north of Corneils Road.

The same development company also received city council approval to build a data center campus on 148-acres of annexed and rezoned land on the Kelaka Property, located south of the Santa Fe railroad and east of Eldamain Road.

According to city documents, city staff recommend the petitioner for the latest data center proposal reach out to property owners in residential neighborhoods in close proximity, including Kendall Marketplace, CMP Properties, and Fox Hill, before the public hearings currently scheduled with city officials.

One of the previous public hearings for the approved data center developments turned contentious when a lawyer representing neighboring residential homeowners argued the industrial development would negatively impact their property values.