Naperville council rejects data center plan
Naperville City Council members have rejected a proposed data center development that sparked significant backlash.
The developer, Karis Critical, announced another reduction in the scale of the plan to a 24-megawatt, roughly 145,000-square-foot facility. Neighbors, however, maintained that a data center did not belong near homes and conflicted with the city’s own land-use master plan, which calls for “medium-density residential” on the property.
Echoing many of their concerns, council members voted 6-1 against the project late Tuesday. Councilman Patrick Kelly noted there are four and “soon to be five” neighborhoods near the site.
“While there is little argument that data centers are needed to facilitate the smooth operation of modern technologies, a data center is not necessarily needed at this particular location,” he said. “Data centers are propagating at a rapid pace throughout the state, and it is possible that other locations within the city of Naperville would be appropriate as well.”
Many residents were particularly worried about the exhaust from diesel generators. Under a draft agreement, no more than two could have been tested concurrently. Generator testing also could only occur on weekdays and could not exceed 10 hours per year. The agreement also established conditions for the data center’s construction, other noise mitigation measures and annual reporting.
“The question for me is not whether we can make a data center work on paper, but whether this truly fits the site, and if it requires this much mitigation,” Councilwoman Supna Jain said. “This is not about opposing development. It is about ensuring that we approve development that aligns with our community and our planning framework and our ability to realistically oversee it over the long term.”
Mayor Scott Wehrli and Councilman Nate Wilson abstained from the vote. Councilman Josh McBroom cast the lone “no.”
The project’s attorney, Russ Whitaker, asked to continue the case to February so that air dispersion modeling could be presented to the council.
“By reducing the scale of the facility, it changed the inputs for that air dispersion modeling. We were no longer modeling 24 diesel engines,” Whitaker said. Instead, “there would be 16 diesel engines on site, 12 of which would be required for backup generation.”
Wehrli sought to table a decision, but that effort failed. The mayor called it a “unique moment in our economic development history.”
“We do take two meetings to decide whether or not to put a stop sign in. We're making a decision on a half-billion-plus dollar investment in our city, and I think it's important that we hear all that information,” he said.
“We are disappointed by the outcome of the vote, which overturned the city plan commission’s recommendation, and by the city council’s decision not to allow additional time for further studies to address concerns regarding our operations,” Karis project spokesman Patrick Skarr said in a statement.
“Over the past year, we committed to investing hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a best‑in‑class facility at a site that has long served as an anchor of Naperville’s technology and jobs corridor. We are grateful for the support shown by residents, our partners in the union building trades, and the many organizations that worked with us as we tailored this proposal for this unique property in Naperville.”