Yorkville data center overestimated its $100M utility tax projections

The $100 million in projected utility tax revenue for the 1,037 acre Project Cardinal data center in Yorkville is getting drastically revised.

“That number was an error, the actual number is probably a fraction of that,” City Administrator Bart Olson said during the Aug. 12 city council meeting.

“I don’t know if it’s 50% or 10%, but we have asked them to provide updated figures. We haven’t planned for the use of any of that revenue and we will be providing updated numbers when they find out,” he said.

While the initial estimate for utility taxes is getting reviewed, the site will still generate millions in property taxes for the city, officials have said.

Olson previously said each of the data center buildings could generate between $500,000 and $1 million annually in overall taxes. It hasn’t been stated how the new projections figure into these past figures.

Pioneer Development, LLC, is proposing 14 two-story data center warehouses totaling more than 17 million square feet. The campus would include two electrical substations and 3,750 total parking spaces. The construction would be phased, with full completion expected to take up to 10 years.

The campus site, which must be rezoned to manufacturing, is located northwest of Illinois Route 47 and Galena Road, south of Baseline Road, and east of Ashe Road.

Sound pollution still an issue

Of chief concerns for neighboring residents is the sound pollution. Equestrian Estates at 14 Legacy Farms is located to the west, and the Bristol Bay Subdivision is located to the east of the project site.

According to the sound study, the data center’s sound pollution will range from 55 to 60 decibels during the day, decreasing to 35-40 decibels at night, because of less generators operating.

Sound pollution in receiving residential areas is limited to 60 decibels during the day and 50 decibels at night, according to the city’s municipal codebook.

Sound pollution from a typical highway usually ranges from 70-80 decibels received at nearby properties.

“I just can’t explain how detrimental this will be for my livelihood, I moved out here for the peace and quiet,” John Bryan, resident of Legacy Estates, said during the Aug. 12 meeting. “I never received a notice at my homestead about this development and I’m 750 feet away. You hear about horror stories of the noise often from a mile away.”

Bryan said construction of the site should start east to west to enable Illinois Route 47’s traffic din to drown out the data center’s noise pollution. He said developer’s plans to start from west to east is detrimental to those living on the project’s western flank.

Bryan said he’s also particularly concerned with the noise of the construction equipment and traffic during construction, especially with the building period expected to last over a decade.

During the meeting, Olson said the developers of Project Cardinal said they are working on a revised land use plan that will shrink the footprint of the site. The new layout should include further setbacks from residential neighbors on all sides. For example, the first building will be moved another 500-600 feet east with enhanced landscaping planted.

Contentions over Project Steel

With over 3,000 acres of land in Yorkville slated for future data center development along the Eldamain Road Corridor, some inter-developer disagreements are popping up.

Green Door Capital and Yorkville Nexus LLC sent a formal letter to the city condemning Prologis L.P.’s 540-acre Project Steel data center plans. The letter objects to the vacation of West Beecher Road adjacent to the former Hagemann Property. They also oppose the rerouting of Beecher Road through the former Meyer Property. All the locations are sites for new data center developments.

In the letter, the developers argue the plans would devalue business development on their sites because the plans reduce access points to their properties.

Compounding the site plan objections, Dan Nagel, commissioner of the Rob Roy Drainage District, said they have not been contacted at all regarding water drainage plans for either Project Steel or Project Cardinal.

The immense size of the two developments will mean heavy planning is needed to deal with “quite a bit of drainage,” Nagel said.

The planning and zoning committee agreed Aug. 13 to move forward with recommending the rezoning and PUD approval to city council for both Project Steel and Project Cardinal.