The proposal for a 795-acre data center goes to the Joliet Plan Commission on Thursday with a recommendation from city staff that the plan be approved.

Residents continue to question whether developers of the Joliet Technology Center have provided enough information for a vote.

“Why such a big data center?” Marjorie McNichols asked the City Council at its meeting on Tuesday. “Why are you moving so fast?”

The council will vote on the plan on March 16 in a faster-than-usual review process for the project.

But the plan was pulled from a Plan Commission agenda in October when staff said it needed more time to review issues raised by the public.

The proposed Joliet Technology Center would be built in an area south of the Chicagoland Speedway at Rowell Avenue and Bernhard Road that is primarily farm land.

Here’s what staff says on the key points related to the data center in their analysis for the Plan Commission.

Job creation

Staff cites the same numbers projected by developers Hillwood and PowerHouse Data Centers, saying their Joliet Technology Center will generate up to 10,000 construction jobs and 700 “high-paying permanent jobs.”

The developers have committed to partnerships with local schools to develop training programs aimed at filling those jobs with local residents, the report said.

Tax revenue

The data center over 30 years will generate $310 million in property taxes and another $40 million in utility taxes, city staff says.

The analysis says that “developments of this scale provide stable, recurring revenue” for city services.

Electricity load

Data centers have been linked to increased energy demands that have led to higher utility bills for consumers. A state report in December warned of a future electricity shortage in Illinois and cited demand from data centers as a primary cause.

The Joliet staff analysis, however, describes the Joliet Technology Center as being energy self-sufficient.

“ComEd has identified and planned a series of transmission and system upgrades that will allow the data center to operate without reducing reliability for existing residential or business customers,” the staff analysis states. “All required transmission and infrastructure improvements associated with the project will be funded by the developer.”

According to the staff analysis, the Joliet Technology Center “will secure and pay for its own electricity,” and exiting ComEd customers will not subsidize energy costs.

Water use

Opponents have portrayed the data center as a massive water consumer.

Staff recommends capping daily water use at 150,000 gallons a day, which, the analysis says, is below the expected 264,000 gallons a day that would be used if the area was developed as previously planned for light industrial use.

“The proposed data center campus would utilize a closed-loop system that recycles water and significantly reduces overall water usage,” the staff analysis says. “The city is comfortable that the planned water use will not strain the local system.”

Noise generation

Noise from from “cooling equipment and backup generators has been cited as a chief negative quality of life impact for adjacent property owners,” the staff analysis says.

Generators at the Joliet Technology Center would be “built within the interior of the site, so that any noise produced would be mitigated by the structures themselves, as well as by the landscape berms that must be installed,” the staff analysis states.

It describes land within a mile of the site as “largely vacant or under development for light industrial uses, though there are several preexisting farmstead residences scattered throughout the area in addition to a lower density single-family residential neighborhood south of Spangler Road.”

The city would require the data center to implement noise reduction techniques that meet state standards if the operation is determined to be a nuisance.

Traffic impact

This is one area that has not been a point of contention because a data center would presumably generate less traffic than warehouses that otherwise could be built on the site.

The staff report cited a traffic study predicting the data center would not have a significant impact on intersections in the area.