The city of Aurora has reached a legal agreement with CyrusOne aimed at addressing citations the city issued against the data center earlier this year.
Nearby residents for months have been raising concerns around noise coming from the CyrusOne data center, located at the corner of Eola and Diehl roads on Aurora’s far East Side near Interstate 88. The company has responded by participating in community meetings and putting in place temporary measures while working on long-term fixes.
On Thursday, lawyers from Aurora and CyrusOne both signed an agreement that sets a timeline for temporary and permanent fixes to be in place. It also lays out penalties for the company not following the order and includes a $40,000 fine that could be lowered.
“The city of Aurora and CyrusOne have worked collaboratively to address and resolve code enforcement and community matters at the Aurora facility,” officials said in a joint statement. “The agreed order issued today reflects the strength of that partnership and reaffirms our shared commitment to the Aurora community.
“The concerns of Aurora residents remain our top priority, and together we will continue to maintain open communication to ensure that any concerns are addressed promptly and effectively,” the joint statement from Aurora and CyrusOne said.
The city of Aurora recently put in place a temporary moratorium on new data centers and warehouses, citing in part residents’ concerns around noise from data centers.
Those living near the CyrusOne data center in Aurora have concerns around noise from two different sources: from generators that sometimes turn on to provide backup power to the data center in the case of a blackout or similar power disruption and from chillers that sit on top of the data center buildings.
Repairs made to the CyrusOne data center in April required the use of backup generators for many days straight, which caused consistently loud noise in the surrounding area that residents called “unlivable” and “horrible,” according to past reporting.
That situation prompted community meetings between residents, CyrusOne and city officials.
Since then, CyrusOne has put in place temporary measures for both sources of sound, has recently completed permanent fixes for the generator noise and is working on a permanent solution for the rooftop chilling units’ noise, officials said.
When just the temporary measures were up, residents said repairs were less impactful but that the generators were still so loud they could hear them inside their homes.
A large portion of the newly-approved order is devoted to setting up a timeline of completed work and of deadlines that future work must be completed by, according to a copy given to The Beacon-News by both the city and CyrusOne.
A temporary sound wall was put up around the backup generators on May 20, according to the order. That wall must stay up until a permanent sound wall to mitigate generator noise is built and approved by the city, the order says.
The permanent generator sound wall in the facility’s south yard was completed and inspected by the city before Sept. 30. The agreement orders that the west yard section must be complete by Oct. 23.
A webpage set up by CyrusOne to communicate with nearby residents about noise mitigation efforts says that all generator sound walls and finishing work was complete on Sept. 30.
CyrusOne is also required to complete the staining and finishing of the wall by Dec. 31.
To mitigate the chiller noise, CyrusOne installed a temporary rooftop sound wall on June 14, according to the agreement. Like with the temporary generator wall, the company is required to keep the rooftop wall up until a permanent solution is put in place to mitigate chiller sound.
That permanent solution will include “sound attenuators” on the chiller units themselves as well as rooftop sound walls, the order says.
CyrusOne has already submitted the documentation needed for Aurora to issue building permits for the permanent rooftop noise solution, according to the order. The company has also given the city an Environmental Noise Assessment Report, prepared by a third party, that says the permanent solution will in fact bring the facility into compliance with the law.
Aurora will review those documents by Nov. 3 to either issue the building permits or modify the timeline if revisions are needed, the agreement says.
Building materials for the permanent chiller noise solution are expected to arrive around the end of this year and the beginning of next year. As those materials come in, they will be installed rather than waiting until they all arrive before construction starts, CyrusOne agreed in the order.
Construction on the permanent chiller sound solution is set to be complete by Sept. 30, 2026.
CyrusOne has also agreed to install additional landscaping at the site by the end of this year, but the webpage set up by CyrusOne to communicate with nearby residents says those efforts are scheduled to be complete by Oct. 24.
Company officials say on the website that the additional landscaping will include a mix of deciduous, evergreen and ornamental trees.
The order and its outlined timeline of tasks for CyrusOne and Aurora stem from four citations the city gave the company’s data center at 2750 Diehl Road on May 21. Two are around landscaping on the site, another is related to the site’s zoning requirements and the last is because the site has expired temporary certificates of occupancy.
Aurora agreed in the order to give temporary occupancy permits to the two buildings at the site where they expired. Those permits are only valid for 60 days, but they automatically renew as long as CyrusOne continues following the agreement.
Final certificates of occupancy for those two buildings will be given once work set out in the order is complete, the city has reviewed the work and a third party sound engineer submits a report showing that the improvements made the site comply with noise standards.
If that report shows the fixes didn’t meet the standards, the company is expected to work “expeditiously” with the city to modify the order to include additional mitigation efforts.
If there is some reason CyrusOne can’t meet its construction deadlines, such as because of strikes or weather delays, then the company has to notify Aurora about the delay and provide updates to the timeline. These delays won’t count as a breach of the order as long as the company is making its best effort toward the timely completion of its obligations, the agreement says.
The order also requires CyrusOne to maintain its webpage where it communicates with residents about noise mitigation efforts. That webpage can be found at: www.cyrusone.com/data-centers/north-america/aurora-il-back-up-generator-schedule
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
