By Nick Reiher

Hillwood and PowerHouse Data Centers will be holding an open house on a controversial plan for a data center on the south end of Joliet from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, at in the auditorium of Building U at the Joliet Community College Main Campus, 1215 Houbolt Road, Joliet.

According to an email from the company, the community open house will provide an opportunity for attendees to preview current project plans, view informational displays, and speak directly with project representatives in an informal, drop-in setting.

Attendees will be able to ask questions, provide feedback, and explore materials at their own pace. Staff will be available to walk through project details, clarify any aspects of the plans, and gather community input.

Company officials say community feedback is an important part of the planning process and will help inform project development and minimize potential impacts.

For those unable to attend, project information will be made available online following the event.

HW Technology Park Development LLC, a division of Texas-based Hillwood, has filed plans for a Planned Unit Development for 795 acres bounded roughly by Schweitzer Road on the north, Ridge Road on the east, Millsdale Road on the south and a line between Illinois 53 and Rowell Avenue on the west.

The plan calls for construction of 24, three-story buildings, roughly 145,000 square feet each, Anderson said, adding 15 to 20 people could be working in each building.

Data centers house computer systems, telecommunications and storage systems used to back up power supplies for businesses. Those in the field say a large data center can use as much electricity as a medium town. Companies proposing data centers must file their plans with ComEd, which will determine if the supply in the area is great enough to handle such a large-scale operation.

Data centers already are scattered throughout the Chicago area, with Equinix officials planning to build a data center on Holt Road near Ridge Road in Minooka. That facility reportedly would be small than the one proposed for Joliet.

A public hearing was scheduled for last October 16 before the Joliet Plan Commission. But Joliet planning officials recommended tabling the hearing because details of the annexation agreement had not been worked out.

There also had been, and continues to be, opposition to the plan from residents south of Joliet due to concerns of drains on the water supply and to the power grid.

Nick Reiher is editor of Farmers Weekly Review.