South Elgin trustees make it clear they don’t support data center plan

South Elgin village leaders have no problem if a developer wants to submit plans to annex land for data center at Kenyon Road and Route 25, but board members made it clear Monday night that it’s a project that’s unlikely to win trustee approval.

“What anybody listening to this tonight has heard is that there is no support for annexation, but whether they want to proceed or not is up to them,” Trustee Scott Richmond said.

White Rose Partners, which is purchasing the 20-acre site from the Kenyon Brothers Co., was to present its plans to the village’s Planning and Zoning Commission last week in order to get feedback on the annexation and proposed construction of a 200,000-square-foot data center. The subject ended up being postponed to August.

Rose Partners has launched a new public website, southelgin-projectkilo.com, to give residents, local officials, and stakeholders direct access to up-to-date information about the project.

It’s a topic that generated a lot of social media attention. A petition in opposition to the development has received more than 6,000 signatures to date.

At Monday night’s village board meeting, Trustee Mike Kolodziej asked fellow trustees to weigh in on what they thought about the proposal.

“I personally have no interest in learning more about them or having (a data center) in my backyard,” Kolodziej said. “To me, it’s obvious it’s something our community does not want. Ultimately, in my opinion, we work for our constituents.”

While no formal vote was taken, a majority of the board shared Kolodziej’s sentiment.

However, Village Attorney Derek Price said the village needs to allow the developer to file a petition. Village officials should not prejudge zoning issues, he said.

“It’s loud and clear what the majority position of the board is: there is no interest in annexation,” Price said. “But you cannot prevent or deny someone from petitioning the government.”

Kolodziej said he believed that to give the developer an audience would mean officials were being more responsive to the company than their constituents, but Price countered that it was important the village doesn’t violate the developer’s constitutional rights.

“We are going to give them an opportunity if they want to continue; we’ll allow that,” Village President Steve Ward said. “If they decide this is a brick wall they don’t want to bounce off anymore, they can withdraw the idea.”

Kolodziej said it’s “the most dynamic issue” the village has had in some time.

The online petition had “an extraordinary” number of signatures, Trustee Jim Breunlin noted. “It shows how concerned this community is about placing a data center so close to homes,” he said.

Personally, Breunlin said he was “struggling to see how this could ever be compatible with a residential neighborhood.”

Regardless, several trustees said they believed South Elgin should not be telling a developer if they should or should not be submitting plans for village review.

“It’s the petitioner’s dime. It’s the petitioner’s time,” Trustee Chris Merritt said. The board has indicated where it stands, but “if they want to come here to present it to us, I think they should. We should let them.”

No date has been set for White Rose’s concept review by the Planning and Zoning Commission. The next commission meeting is Aug. 19.

Ward said he was glad to have the board address the issue in light of things being said on social media.

“It bothered me to sit there and see people accusing the village of things (like) payoffs or money under the table,” Ward said, stressing that no part of the proposal was a done deal despite what people have alleged. “We always do what’s best for the residents of South Elgin.”

Kolodziej agreed. “It hurt me when we as a group are being labeled as corrupt. We are anything but that,” he said.

• Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The (Elgin) Courier-News.