DeKalb City Council green-lights ComEd substation for Facebook data center

DeKALB – DeKalb city officials gave their approval for a ComEd substation for the future Facebook data center, located at 2050 E. Gurler Road, during this week’s City Council meeting.

DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas said during the Monday City Council meeting that city staff was very enthusiastically in support of the proposal. He said the joint interest of ComEd and Facebook in collaborating in making the facility would serve the plant and also serve the area well.

“It is to our advantage” to approve the ordinance, Nicklas said.

The City Council voted, 8-0, to approve the final plat of resubdivision, an amended final development plan for the data center. Second Ward Alderman Bill Finucane attended the meeting virtually.

The substation will be located just to the southwest of the data center building at the southeast portion of the property, according to city documents.

The substation’s access drive to the Crego Road turnaround will be gravel, gated and not accessible to the public, according to city documents. The plat also will include a small amount of right-of-way at the southeast corner of Illinois Route 23 and Gurler Road and additional right-of-way to accommodate the roundabout, which already exists. It will be a signalized intersection, and installation of those signals is expected this year, city officials had said.

The approved plans also show landscaping along Illinois Route 23, which exceeds the ordinance requirements by 30 trees, and will include a 20-foot berm to match what is proposed for the Chicago West Business Center to the north. The plantings and berm along the Route 23 frontage will be installed in a future phase of the Facebook project when development on the site transitions to the west.

The update comes after city planning and zoning commissioners unanimously approved the ordinance during their Jan. 19 meeting.

Nicklas said city officials also addressed related concerns of residential neighbors of the project during the city’s previous planning and zoning commission meeting. He said what those concerned residents were thinking was proposed was that there was going to be frontage on Illinois Route 23 as part of the project – which wasn’t the case.

“So I think we’ve met that concern,” Nicklas said. “And, really, it’s an integral part of what will make the energy supply more reliable which, as you know, the company cannot tolerate blinking lights for its consumers.”