‘We’ve got a lot of questions’: Lisle seeks details on work at data center property

Lisle was forced to take legal action to halt construction at a data center after the company that operates the facility failed to comply with a stop-work order from the village.

Village officials now want to know the extent of the work that happened on the property.

Last week, Lisle ordered that construction be halted at the Centersquare data center. However, town officials learned during a follow-up visit that work was continuing at the site along Western Avenue, prompting the village to seek a court order.

“Anyone who is in the village has to comply with the rules that are in place, and if you’re not going to do that, we’re going to intervene,” Lisle Mayor Mary Jo Mullen said after the village filed court papers for a temporary restraining order to block the work.

On Friday, DuPage County Judge Craig Belford signed an order in which both sides agreed that work on the exterior of the building would stop while interior work, with approved permits, could continue.

The order also indicates that temporary chillers — which village officials say were installed without a permit — could remain on the exterior of the property for now.

Both sides will appear before Belford on March 13 for an update.

Even with the court order, village officials say they don’t have a clear picture of what’s happening at the facility, located at 4315 Western Ave.

“We’ve got a lot of questions,” said Mike Smetana, Lisle’s development services director.

To help answer some of those questions, the village has requested an on-site inspection of the building’s interior, which is expected to take place Thursday morning.

An attorney representing the data center did not return calls or respond to an email seeking comment.

Centersquare initially applied for 11 permits to do work at the site. The village approved nine permits related to interior work. It rejected two other permit requests.

One of the rejected permits was for work to install an exterior fuel cell that would provide 19,500 kilowatts of power, or 19.5 megawatts.

Meanwhile, village officials say, Centersquare did not apply for a permit to set up the temporary chillers, which include exterior pipes resting on wooden blocks.

Smetana said building permit requests for work on the property have been coming in piecemeal.

“Hopefully we get to that point soon … where we have full working plans,” Smetana said.

He added the village is unsure whether the fuel cell installation is to provide backup power to the 15-megawatt data center or to expand its power base.

“We’re reviewing that permit,” he said. “We need more answers ourselves to understand what that is.”

Neighbors in a nearby subdivision raised questions last week about work on the data center property. They noted that construction work had been ongoing for months but recently ramped up when crews brought in cranes to lift some of the equipment being installed on the property.

Centersquare’s 15-megawatt data center spans about 190,000 square feet, according to the company’s website.