Daily Herald opinion: A new, familiar refrain: Communities need more, broader guidance in finding locations for data centers

The recent experience of Lisle resident Vanessa Berry offers in microcosm a picture of what’s happening with data processing centers broadly in the suburbs.

As correspondent Alicia Fabbre reported for us on Friday, Berry hosted a meeting in December to provide information regarding a proposed data center in Lisle. One person showed up. As the issue gained momentum, Berry scheduled another meeting last week in advance of a village planning commission review of the proposal. This time, the issue attracted an audience of 40. When the commission got set to meet at village hall last Wednesday, the crowd had grown to more than 300 — so many that village board quarters and an overflow room couldn’t accommodate everyone and the meeting had to be postponed.

That trend line generally describes the public’s reaction to a rapid expansion of high-tech data centers in the suburbs. When proposals first began to appear in various towns, few people took much notice beyond welcoming the abundant property tax windfall they seemed to provide. But as awareness grew — along with a steady stream of new proposals — opposition has grown and intensified.

Last Tuesday, amid a storm of protests, the Naperville City Council rejected a project proposed for vacant property near Warrenville and Naperville roads. That action, too, was a sign of the public’s new awareness and concern about the impact of data processing centers on their neighborhoods and on the community at large.

The Naperville and Lisle experiences echo a familiar refrain regarding necessary but unwelcome developments.

“I’m not anti-data center,” Berry told Fabbre, “but being less than 300 feet away from homes seems dangerous … There’s got to be a better location for this one.”

Councilman Patrick Kelly offered a similar tone at the Naperville council meeting.

“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.

So, the road ahead for data centers appears much more challenging than that which they have followed so far, and that is a good thing. We have learned much more about them over time and reasonable, important questions are emerging about the noise, pollution and energy consumption they produce — as well as, significantly, who, really, is paying for it all.

In a study released Wednesday, the Union of Concerned Scientists urged state legislation to expand clean energy alternatives to help deal with the impact of data centers, noting that within four years, they will account for up to 64% of the growth in electricity demand in Illinois. The group predicts increased pollution and financial risks for electricity ratepayers in the range of $24 billion if nothing is done.

Lisle Mayor Mary Jo Mullen comes to a similar conclusion from working with the issue on the ground at the local level. She told Fabbre that communities need more guidance and direction to help them manage the inevitable growth of the centers.

“I think there needs to be a more regional effort or a statewide effort to bring experts together to give clear guidance to municipalities to have a reasonable, safe development,” she said.

Suburban communities are all too familiar with what can happen when developers of any kind of project begin pitting them against each other and picking them off one by one to find the so-called “right location.” Against this background and the growing concern from town to town about these projects, Mullen’s appeal is one that policymakers need to make a priority.