Neighbors oppose data center plan for WGN site, but Elk Grove mayor says truck depot would be worse

People who live near the WGN radio transmitter site in Elk Grove Village are speaking out against plans for a data center campus there.

But Mayor Craig Johnson — perhaps the region’s biggest booster and most vocal defender of the increasingly controversial computer storage sites — argues an alternative proposal for a trucking and logistics center would be worse.

“Would you rather have a data center next to you, or 850 diesel trucks a day coming in and out, running 24 hours a day?” Johnson told residents who came to village hall to air concerns this week.

The redevelopment of a portion of the 102-acre property at 720 Rohlwing Road — announced in 2022 and approved by the village board in 2023 — has been delayed amid difficulties extending power to the site just west of Route 53 and north of Biesterfield Road.

In January, the board extended a deadline to begin construction of the first of as many as four data center buildings to Sept. 30, 2027, under an amendment to a July 18, 2023, agreement with radio station owner Nexstar Media Group.

In more recent days, Johnson said he’s fielded phone calls from a half dozen residents who back up to the WGN site.

“We are truly scared about this rollout of the data center near us,” said Roman Chmiel, who lives in a neighborhood he now describes as “calm and quiet” but fears could become noisy.

Other neighbors at the village board meeting Tuesday said they are OK with data centers on the east side of town — in what is the nation’s largest business park — but they don’t want the buildings in their residential area on the west side. Others who live elsewhere in Elk Grove opposed data centers anywhere.

As the national conversation around the tech hosting hubs swirls in the meantime, the longtime Northwest suburban mayor of the self-proclaimed “data center capital of the Midwest” — the village hosts 20 of the facilities, with another five under construction — has mounted a messaging campaign of sorts of his own.

In recent months, Johnson hosted a town hall, published a special edition of the village newsletter, conducted media interviews, and used mic time at many a village board meeting to counter criticism.

That included this past week’s public session, where, for nearly an hour and a half, the mayor and trustees engaged in sometimes testy exchanges with residents who came to the public comment podium.

Johnson said he rejected Nexstar’s original proposal for a truck depot four years ago, but convinced company brass that a data center was a good alternative. He argued it would have a “minimal” impact on the adjacent neighborhood — especially with assurances the developer would install a screen wall and berm, and erect buildings 200 feet from the nearest backyard.

Residents said they prefer homes there, and Johnson agreed, but said that’s not realistic.

“They wanted to get the maximum dollars they could get for their land, which, as a business, you can’t blame them. They want to make a profit,” Johnson said. “At that time in 2022 — it’s funny how the world changes — no one said the word data centers. No one talked about data centers. No one didn’t like data centers. No one felt impacted by data centers, even though the village had many data centers already within its boundaries.”

By extending the village’s agreement with Nexstar, that “buys us time” to work out a different redevelopment plan, Johnson said.

Otherwise, if the deal were to be scrapped, the property owner would be free to return to unincorporated Cook County or seek annexation with Schaumburg, which may be willing to approve a trucking use, Johnson believes.

“We were trying to get the best solution to a bad problem,” he said, adding a data center would be “a far better neighbor.”