Over resident objections, Yorkville City Council unanimously approves another data center

Two young children played in the back row of Yorvkille’s city council chambers as the meeting stretched three hours into the evening. Their parents, who pleaded along with several other residents against a proposed data center near their homes, embraced hands as the vote came. One vote after another, the council unanimously in favor of a data center.

The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission previously rejected the proposal to annex and rezone annexing and rezoning two parcels totaling 62.54 acres for data center usage at its Feb. 12 meeting. That decision was made because of the parcels’ proximity to residential homes amidst an outpouring of community opposition at the public hearings.

The council’s justification for pushing ahead the Hamman-Kelaka, LLC data center vote included changes to the original plan made after the planning commission meeting. Changes involve permitting parking lots, but no buildings, on the parcel immediately adjacent to the Kylyn’s Ridge subdivision, a 400-foot setback from the Blackberry Shore Lane neighborhood and other Kylyn’s Ridge homes, and a height restriction on any buildings within 1,500 feet of residential homes.

For residents, the new data center designs were still too close to their homes.

Mary Maher Bartalone, resident of Blackberry Shore Lane and Bristol Township Assessor, said during the public comment section before the March 11 vote that the 2016 Zoning Commission slated the area for residential because it’s surrounded on three sides by residential homes.

“This room was filled a month ago with concerned residents to fight the M-2 zoning request and the Zoning Commission shot it down unanimously,” Maher Bartolone said. “It was much to everyone’s dismay to find out a revised version of this was then put forth without any real notice to homeowners. I found out from a Facebook post. Three of my neighbors had no idea this was going on tonight. I don’t understand why there wasn’t a presentation from the onset on this stark change from the zoning plan that was rejected.”

Carol Kicher, a resident of Kylyn’s Ridge, said with this data center being in her backyard and another one being planned across the street backing up to Whispering Meadows, she feels their pleas are falling on deaf ears.

“I don’t think anybody’s listening,” Kicher said. “The peoples’ voices should be heard and should be represented through the vote of the council who we voted for. Please hear us. You already rejected it twice. I thought it was a done deal. We all did.”

Data centers are desirable for cities because they generate large amounts of tax revenue for the city while requiring minimal staffing. Larger data center buildings can generate up to $1 million annually for the city.

The Hamman-Kelaka, LLC data center is the fifth data center plan approved city-wide in recent months.

Before joining the other aldermen in unanimously approving annexing the two parcels and rezoning them for data center manufacturing use, Ward 3 Alderman Chris Funkhouser said the city can better address many of the residents’ concerns when the city receives an official development site plan.

“This is the only (data center) right now that’s adjacent to a residential neighborhood,” Funkhouser said. “That’s why I’ve been lobbying so heavily to restrict the adjacency of the potential buildings. I don’t want a building in your backyards. I wouldn’t want a data center or other warehouse in my backyard. So, that’s why I’m trying to preserve that distance. In good faith, they’ve included far more than the 400-foot (setback) that I originally asked for. I think we’re trying to have a negotiation of good faith of what we can do here.”

Before the vote, resident Rich Fisher, said the city’s desire for extra tax revenue must be balanced with the livelihoods of the community members who call Yorkville home.

“In terms of development, we can be very tactical with how we do it, while growing the tax base, while taking care of the schools, and making sure we maintain what makes Yorkville, Yorkville.”

Resident Bailey Carrabotta said she rushed to the meeting with her kids to join her husband to implore the council not to force them to move out of Yorkville.

“We’ve attended multiple meetings now. It’s tough to do, especially with a young family,” Carrabotta said. “We’re extremely frustrated that we weren’t informed of the changes, and we literally had to run out of the house. I’m frustrated with the way this has all been handled. I strongly oppose the rezoning, and I literally just saw it an hour ago. Please do better for citizens.”

As part of the developer’s plans, in addition to the two annexed and rezoned parcels, a third property of 50-acres was also rezoned for manufacturing data center usage, less than a half-mile southwest of the other two, north of U.S. Route 34, east of Eldamain Road.