The debate over a data center campus proposed for Naperville unfolded at Wednesday’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, where petitioners made their pitch for approval while residents pushed back against the project.
As envisioned by Karis Critical Member, the two-phase development would serve as a co-location facility, with space being built and rented to companies that could include anything from banks and insurance agencies to hyperscale users like Meta and Oracle, according to Brett Rogers, Karis’ head of data centers.
It is proposed for the former Alcatel-Lucent campus at 1960 Lucent Lane, located on land owned by Nokia. The buildings on the 40-acre property were demolished in 2023.
That same year, the city amended its office, research and light industry (ORI) zoning ordinance to allow data centers to be built in ORI-zoned areas as part of a larger effort to restrict warehouse facilities and distribution centers from being constructed in the city’s Interstate 88 research and design corridor.
“This is the only zoning district where data centers are permitted,” said Russ Whitaker, an attorney representing Karis.
While the development is planned for an appropriately zoned area, it is also in close proximity to multiple residential areas, including the Naper Commons, Danada Woods and Indian Hill Woods subdivisions.
Those residents opposed to the project say it will have a negative effect on their health and quality of life as well as the environment. An online petition urging the city to reject the development has been signed by about 1,900 people.
“My family and I moved back to Naperville in 2002 because we wanted to live in what we anticipated would be a quiet, family-oriented neighborhood,” said Steve Jarvis, head of the home owners association for Naper Commons. “That peaceful environment is exactly what draws people to this side of the neighborhood and exactly what this proposed data center would destroy.”
Under plans submitted to the city, the development would have two 211,000-square-foot data center buildings designed to be “mirror images” of each other. Each would house interconnected computer systems and offices and require 36 megawatts of energy to operate, Rogers said.
Phase 1 would be construction of the first building on the southwest portion of the site. The second building and an electrical substation would make up phase 2.
An interconnection study funded by the developer found that the city has sufficient electrical capacity to support the first building but the second part will be dependent on the availability of electricity, a report from city staff said.
For that reason, staff recommended that only the first half of the project be approved at this time, according to the report.
Staff raised concerns about the noise that could be generated by the centers, a point also raised by residents, some of whom cited the issues residents in Aurora have experienced with the CyrusOne data center’s backup generators.
While an impact assessment completed by the developer found that noise levels would not be an issue, the city plans to have a third-party sound engineering firm conduct its own evaluation.
Residents also expressed concerns about the data centers’ water consumption. City staff countered that point, saying Karis will use a closed loop cooling system for the campus that “should not create a large water consumption demand” or place strain on the existing water systems. Staff members also said water usage per day would likely be less than the buildings previously located on the site.
The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County reviewed the plan and suggested Karis not use “asphalt sealants that contain coal tar products” to reduce environmental harm and ensure that any new light installations are compliant with standards set by the International Dark Sky Association and Dark Sky Society, according to a letter sent in by the forest preserve.
A spokesperson for the forest preserve said the letter was not an official stance for or against the project.
City staff found that the lighting proposed for the centers is dark sky compliant but recommends the Karis provide written verification of that. They also said they will make using non-coal tar products a condition of approval.
If fully built, the data center could generate between $1.95 million and $3.2 million in new revenue for the city, according to Aaron Gruen, a principal associate at Gruen Gruen + Associates. A significant chunk of that money would be in electricity utility taxes paid to the city, he said.
It would also produce about $998,000 annually in property tax revenue for Naperville School District 203, Gruen said.
Despite those numbers, some residents questioned whether the economic benefits outweighed the potential long-term impacts.
“While it is great that they have undertaken those assessments and considered those impacts, I do urge the planning and zoning commissioners to really consider what the cumulative impact of all those combined will have on the city and its residents,” Naperville resident Daniel Vojcak said.
The commission’s public hearing on the project was continued to Oct. 15. At that meeting, Commissioner Whitney Robbins said she would like a better understanding from Karis about the long-term commitment for the centers.
“I think that’s important, as we talk about all these environmental impacts,” Robbins said. “If we are to chip away at each one of these and come to some sort of community impact agreement … I would want to make sure any sort of agreement on those environmental impacts would be legally enforceable to whoever owns that license.”
cstein@chicagotribune.com
