Naperville Data Center Proposal Nixed By City Council

NAPERVILLE, IL — After months of mounting resistance to a proposed data center at 1960 Lucent Lane, Naperville City Council members voted 6 to 1, to deny the conditional use permit for Karis Critical , with council member Nate Wilson and Mayor Scott Wehrli abstaining.

The vote comes after the city's planning and zoning commission voted 8 to 1 in favor of the proposal in November. And after a motion from Mayor Scott Wehrli during Tuesday's meeting to delay the vote until February so petitioners could share an updated air dispersion study following scalebacks to the data center plans.

Ahead of the meeting, Russell Whitaker, an attorney representing the petitioners, had urged city council members to continue their amid recent changes outlined in a document published four business days earlier.

Whitaker said the scaled-back plans showed the data center building had been reduced from 211,000 square feet to 145,000 square feet and would be built for a 24-megawatt IT load as opposed to a 36-megawatt IT load. Whitaker said this reflected a 33 percent reduction in scale.

According to Whitaker, the amended data center plans would have called for 12 backup generators instead of 24. Cooling units would have been reduced from 24 to 16.

Nearly 50 residents took to the mic during the meeting's public comment portion. Rich Janor told the city council "opposition is more widespread, more bipartisan and stronger than ever before." He cited an online petition with more than 5,400 signatures opposing the data center.

Janor said the petitioners' new changes could be "legal maneuvering at the 11th hour, potentially to sow doubt on a no vote.”

Resident Priya Vincent spoke about "serious concerns about public health and long-term wellbeing of [the] community," echoing concerns raised by residents at previous meetings.

Dr. Sujay Shah, a resident and oncologist, said the proposal fails to meet the requirement that a conditional use will not be harmful to the welfare of residents. He said diesel emissions from other data centers have been linked to "increased cancer risks" and "a substantial amount of asthma cases."

Shah said, "A conditional use is an exception, it is not an entitlement."

He aded, "The bar must be very high” or “the condition loses meaning."

Naperville resident Sean Craven, of Local 17 Heat and Frost Insulators, joined other union members and residents in expressing support for the data center. He said it would be a “major investment to local union workers and labor."

Addressing the community turnout, Council Member Ian Holhauer said, "It helps people to believe that people can come together to solve problems in a way that is more constructive than maybe we do nationally"

He added, "I sincerely hope there is not going to be a motion to delay this issue."

Council member Josh McBroom said declining to continue the vote would result in a "high probability of a legal challenge and also a high probability that we would lose that legal challenge."

Council member Patrick Kelly said the petitioner had not met the burden of proof to satisfy the requirement that a conditional use permit would not impact public health, property values and the development of nearby property

"If the data center is constructed, the 21 acres adjacent to the data center will have limited possibilities for usage."

Kelly said he would, however, be supportive of residential or mixed-use residential and commercial development on the site. He suggested a data center could be appropriate at another location.

Mayor Scott Wehrli presented the motion to table the vote until at least Feb. 17, with city attorneys saying the issue would likely require another public hearing with the new study.

"When does it end then?" Council member Jain asked. "It could continually change and then when could we make a decisive vote on it?"

The measure to continue the vote failed 6 to 3.

"I think this is a unique moment in our economic development history," Mayor Scott Wehrli said. He said he couldn't think of another time a petitioner asked for more time and to present more information and had been denied that request.

Shortly after the vote to deny the data center's conditional use permit, Karis Critical shared the following statement:

“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. 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."