Fifth data center planned for Yorkville would border residential area

A fifth data center development is proposed for Yorkville, with both city officials and developers agreeing former agricultural homesteads are now dominated by an industrial future. However, residents wonder whether if city is tarnishing its pastoral landscapes.

David Hamman, on behalf of Kelaka, LLC, is requesting rezoning three separate properties totaling 112.44 acres for the purpose of constructing large data center industrial buildings. All three properties would need to be rezoned from residential to manufacturing.

Two of the properties, totaling 62.54 acres, are currently unincorporated and would need to first be annexed before being rezoned. The unincorporated farmland properties are located south of Faxon Road and west of Iroquois Lane. The third property, currently within Yorkville city limits, is less than half a mile southwest of the other two, separated by the Rob Roy Creek, north of West Veterans Parkway and east of Eldamain Road.

There is a public hearing for the proposed annexations on Feb. 11 before the city council meeting at City Hall, and a public hearing before the Planing and Zoning Commission on Feb. 12, also at City Hall.

Immediately west to the current proposed data center project is the Kylyn’s Ridge residential subdivision. The Fox Valley YMCA is also adjacent to the property.

During an economic development committee meeting on Jan. 07, commissioners discussed the concerns already raised by some residents of the subdivision about the appearance of the industrial buildings on the landscape and about the high concentration of manufacturing in the area.

City officials said during the meeting that they took extra care to provide some recommendations to create a buffer between the industrial project and the residential areas. This includes a 100-foot landscape buffer between the residential and roadway areas. City officials said this standard is consistent with what the city is requiring for another of the data center projects, by developers CyrusOne.

Yorkville’s 2016 Comprehensive Plan designates all three of the subject properties for single-family residential housing, preserving sensitive environmental and scenic features. Full approval for the data center project needs the plan to be revised to permit general industrial on the properties.

An attorney representing Kelaka, John Phillip Chuck, said they have a problem with the city requiring a 100-foot setback along Eldamain Road and Route 34. He wants the board to approve the project without the setback restrictions.

“The Comprehensive Plan does not mention the Eldamain Road bridge, this totally changes the area out there,” Chuck said at the meeting. “It has now taken a big transition to industrial. For us to say that it is a semi-rural residential area is just not the fact anymore… It’s a much heavier trafficked area now.”

Kelaka suggested placing a stormwater management area to provide some separation between their manufacturing buildings and the Kylyn’s Ridge subdivision.

City officials recommended Kelaka reach out to residents of the subdivision prior to the scheduled public hearings.

Another 148-acres of agricultural property owned by Kelaka, LLC, was previously approved by City Council for annexation and rezoning to construct a massive data center campus. That property is located south of the Santa Fe railroad and east of Eldamain Road.

On that property, Kelaka is teaming up with the developers Green Door Capital, who is also converting 138-acres on the Hagemann Property into a large data center campus. Kelaka said they would also like to work with Green Door on this project.

While the money for developers and property owners goes round, city officials say attracting data center developments also create a financial windfall for the city’s coffers and residents. The city says it favors the projects because each site generates millions of dollars in tax revenues annually and requires minimum staffing costs compared to more traditional factories and businesses.