‘They did not want public scrutiny’: Judge to rule on Grayslake data center lawsuit by end of year

A Lake County judge will rule on a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed against the planned Grayslake T5 data center by the end of the year, as opponents hope to scuttle the massive development that has fueled local controversy for months.

Several area Lake County residents, making up the “Preservation of Community Well-Being Collective,” are named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which calls for the court to void previous village approvals for the development, alleging the project had been purposefully obfuscated while moving through the approval process, among other accusations.

During a hearing Friday, Judge Janelle Christensen heard the motion to dismiss, filed by the village of Grayslake and T5. They argued the plaintiffs had “waited a year past the deadlines” to file. In an order filed Friday, Christensen said the court would issue a written ruling no later than Dec. 30 on the motion.

Michael Smith, co-founder of the Lake County Illinois Data Center Opposition Coalition, said project opponents hope the judge will “see through their arguments,” and deny the motion to dismiss.

“What we believe we’ve done is clearly lay out … showing what Grayslake didn’t do, and how they really worked to deceive and conceal from the public what they were going to be voting on because they did not want public scrutiny,” he said.

In a statement, a T5 representative said company officials “look forward to the court’s ruling in the coming weeks.”

“We appreciate the Court’s thoughtful consideration of our motion, and believe the record shows that T5 and the Village followed all relevant rules and statutes in carefully reviewing and approving the Cornerstone Development,” the statement said.

In an interview, Smith criticized the motion, saying the defendants were “relying completely” on the deadline statute while not “defending anything else in the claim.”

According to an attorney in Lake County, motions to dismiss generally focus on the law rather than debating the factual merits of a case.

April elections

Several Grayslake trustee seats will be coming up for election in April, and Smith said the coalition has been vetting candidates. The coalition is also involved in the legislative process, he said, pushing for the POWER Act on the state level.

The POWER Act, introduced in collaboration with the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition, would incentivize data centers to obtain power from local renewable energy sources and batteries, increase local accountability by setting water and electricity reporting requirements and water efficiency standards, and ensure community engagement.

Meanwhile, T5 and the village have been sending out flyers and pamphlets to residents, arguing for the development’s benefits. A recently released economic study, funded by T5, lauded the reportedly billions of dollars in economic output it would bring both locally and to Illinois, while opponents of the project have criticized those numbers.

Smith alleged the village and developer are “worried” that if the case were to move forward and the village had to redo the votes, the project would lack sufficient local support.

“The village and T5 had made a claim early on that they had broad public support for this. When in fact, they didn’t, and they know they didn’t,” Smith said.

A portion of T5 was acquired earlier this year by Salute, a data center services company headquartered in Wisconsin. According to a news release from Salute in September, it was acquiring T5 Operations, part of the T5 Data Centers’ Services business.

In that release, T5 Chairman and CEO Pete Marin called it the “right fit based on shared values.”

Along with the acquisition, T5 Construction became EverOn Data Center Services, described as “an independent data center construction company dedicated exclusively to delivering mission-critical digital infrastructure,” in the release.

Smith questioned whether Marin, who has been the face of the company through the development, will still be around in the near future.

In a statement responding to questions about the acquisition and how that may affect leadership, a T5 representative said that T5@Chi IV, the entity that holds the zoning approvals for the Cornerstone Development, has not merged or been acquired.

“Nothing has changed with regard to T5’s or its affiliates’ obligations to the Village of Grayslake,” the representative said. “Only T5’s facilities management company has merged with Salute.”

Adriana Perez of the Chicago Tribune contributed to this report.