After feedback from city officials, the developers of a proposed data center campus in Yorkville are downsizing plans in order to keep the warehouses further away from residential areas.

The developers of the Meyer Data Center campus, south of Corneils Road and east of Beecher Road, are shrinking the project’s footprint from 130 acres down to 91 acres.

City officials and nearby residents, especially from the Caledonia subdivision neighborhood, urged “nothing east of Rob Roy Creek,” because of concerns of the proximity to residential areas.

The petitioner, Matt Gilbert, who is representing Green Door Capital with other data center projects in town, like the 228-acre CyrusOne data center with nine, two-story warehouses, has agreed to drop plans for the eastern parcel of the Meyer Data Center.

Gilbert originally requested the city to rezone three parcels to manufacturing for data center usage. Two of the parcels are west of Rob Roy Creek, with the now relinquished parcel on the east side of the creek.

With the parcel east of the creek, city staff is recommending that Gilbert downzone the property to agricultural. The current land use is for farming.

“This recommendation would provide a substantial buffer to the residential properties in the Caledonia Subdivision to the east from a future data center development and ensure that a high-density residential land use is not adjacent to established residential parcels in the Caledonia Subdivision,” Sarah Mendez, the city’s senior planner in the community development department, said in city documents.

The city is also recommending a development agreement ensuring that no other manufacturing land uses are allowed on the two western parcels proposed for rezoning by the applicant.

The city is also requiring a 500-foot minimum building separation from the data center warehouses and any future residential structures on the 37-acre eastern parcel, according to city documents.

During the December, 2025, economic development committee meeting, a resident of the Caledonia Subdivision expressed concern about the data center campus being so close to residential areas.

The resident said when she and her neighbors originally purchased their homes, the adjacent area was not zone for manufacturing, which “now having it change is obviously a great area of concern for us.”

During the same meeting, city officials said a petition was received by the city for the property to the south of the proposed Meyer Data Center. The city said that petition is currently paused, but that “it’s likely that will not remain residential.”

The developers are seeking a Jan. 14 planning and zoning commission date for their zoning request. Before that date, the developers are required to meet with residents of the Caledonia Subdivision and other nearby residents.

The proposed project is part of the city’s overall plan to develop around 3,000 acres of farmland along the Eldamain Road Corridor into Yorkville’s own data center region. The city has touted substantial expected tax revenues for the city from the developments.

At several city meetings, residents neighboring the projects have voiced their objections to the city placing the data center warehouses close to residential areas. Several residents argued, including one in a lawsuit against the city, that the city’s comprehensive plan does not designate the area for manufacturing.

The city is looking to alter the 2016 comprehensive plan to better fit the city’s new vision.

The city pointed to the recent CyrusOne data center, Project Cardinal, Project Steel, the Kelaka data centers, and the Loftus data center, all surrounding the proposed Meyer Data Center campus as reason to rezone the whole area.

“If approved for rezoning, the city will initiative an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan to reflect the new General Manufacturing zoning district, city officials said in city documents. “The subject property’s future land use designation will be revised from ‘Suburban Neighborhoods’ to ‘General Industrial.’”