The city of Yorkville has two more large data center projects on the agenda for its Tuesday meeting, this coming on the heels, of a near six-hour meeting over the of the 1,034-acre Project Cardinal data center.

Both the 540-acre Project Steel data center and the recently downsized, 80-acre Meyer data center campus could take significant steps forward with City Council approval.

The planning and zoning commission on Jan. 14 unanimously voted to not recommend the Meyer data center for approval.

City Council can override this recommendation.

At the meeting for Project Cardinal, several residents said they would rather move out of Yorkville than raise their families next to giant manufacturing warehouses that the city wants to stretch along 3,000 acres of the Eldamain Corridor.

Top of the residents’ concerns were light and sound pollution, potential health impacts, and the lengthy 10-20 years of heavy construction in the area. Residents said the charm of life in Yorkville was “sold out” by the city.

What’s new with Project Steel?

On the agenda is the necessary annexation, rezoning, and PUD for Project Steel. Also included is the infrastructure and development agreement which includes the developers potentially paying $40 million up-front to the city if the project receives full approval.

City Administrator Bart Olson has said the money is being sent by the city to the school district for expanded facilities, the fire district, city projects, and charitable community organizations.

A similar agreement was required before approval of Project Cardinal, with the developers offering $51 million up-front, including $38,250,000 straight to the schools.

Of the $40 million, about $30 million is being pledged by the city to the Yorkville School District 115.

After feedback from ComEd, the developers, Prologis, L.P, are increasing the number of new electrical substations from three to four.

To make room, the original number of 18 warehouses is being reduced to 16, two-story warehouses. The remaining warehouses will be slightly larger than the original plan, meaning the total square footage remains about 6.8 million square feet.

The developers once wanted to build 24 warehouses before downsizing plans.

With the updated site plans, the distance between the nearest data center building and a residential area to the southeast along Corneils Road has increased from 742 feet to 1,670 feet, according to city documents.

The project is expected to reach cross 16 individual land parcels centered around the southeast corner of Galena and Eldamain roads on unincorporated Kendall County land.

The city is requiring each of the data center campus’ warehouses to have a minimum 500-foot building separation between them and the nearest residential or commercial structure. Many residents have argued at City Council meetings that the projects are still too close to their homes.

Construction will be in three phases over 20 years. The developers are aiming to begin construction by the summer of 2027.

Once each individual warehouse is up and running, city staff believe they can each generate between $500,000 - $1,000,000 in annual tax revenues for the city’s coffers. A significant portion of the project is within the Plano School District 88’s boundaries. The city is making the developers build the first warehouses within Yorkville 115’s boundaries.

What’s new with the Meyer data center?

On the agenda is the rezoning and a development agreement for the Meyer data center, by developers Yorkville Nexus V LLC, Green Door Capital.

The project, south of Corneils Road and east of Beecher Road, started with a 130-acre footprint, before being downsized to 91 acres. The downsizing was to create a large buffer area between nearby residential areas, primarily the Caledonia subdivision neighborhood.

City officials and nearby residents previously urged “nothing east of Rob Roy Creek” to give them space from the project.

The developers are requesting to rezone two western parcels totaling 91 acres to manufacturing for data center usage. The developers said they only plan on building on 80 of those acres.

The developer has agreed to leave the 37-acre eastern parcel near the subdivision zoned for multi-family residence.

Within the site plans is a 1,100 foot setback to the nearest residential structure in Caledonia and an agreement not to develop east of the creek. The eastern 37-acre parcel is being donated by the developers to the city.

Also updated in the plans, the developers have committed to an $10 million impact fee for the 80 acres of development. The developers have agreed to pay a “non-refundable prepayment of $1 million” at the recording of the proposed rezoning, according to city documents.

The petitioner is Matt Gilbert, who is representing Green Door Capital with other data center projects in town, like the already approved 228-acre CyrusOne data center with nine, two-story warehouses.