• Kathleen Garthus made a sign that expresses her concerns about the data center. Hundreds turned out for a special March 5 Joliet Planning and Zoning meeting.

(Photo by Stephanie Irvine)

By Stephanie Irvine

The controversial 795-acre data center proposed just south of the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet was given the green light by the city’s plan commission.

The 7-1 vote recommends the project to the city council for approval. Chairman John Kella was the lone vote against.

“There’s just too many questions in the back of my mind,” Kella said of his vote.

PowerHouse Hillwood is proposing the data center campus. Hillwood, a Ross Perot Company, partnered with PowerHouse, a data center developer, to bring the project to Joliet. It was originally slated to go before the plan commission in October. An open house was held at Joliet Junior College in the beginning of February.

The March 5 special meeting drew hundreds of attendees, filling up council chambers and spilling out into overflow areas. The meeting, which lasted over five hours, only had Powerhouse Hillwood’s data center on the agenda.

Public comment alone lasted more than four hours, with 58 individuals signed up to speak. At least a dozen others lined up at the podium when the clerk asked if anyone else wanted to provide comment.

Overwhelmingly, public comment opposed the data center’s approval, with speakers citing myriad concerns related to electricity demands, water usage, AI and the environment. Some raised transparency issues, stating they received multiple different answers to the same questions at the open house, leading to confusion and distrust.

Despite the opposition, union representatives, including Will-Grundy Building Trades President Doc Gregory, championed the project and the 8,500 construction jobs it is said to bring.

Several urged the council to table the project until more concrete answers were available. Many of the unanswered questions stem from Hillwood PowerHouse not yet knowing who its end user would be.

Hillwood’s Executive Vice President Don Schoenheider said they’ve been in talks with the major players in data usage, but they wouldn’t sign until zoning is approved. Powerhouse Hillwood representatives affirmed during the public hearing they would not build on spec, meaning they’d have a user once the zoning was approved.

The data center campus is projected to bring in $310,000,000 in property taxes over 30 years, plus about $40,000,000 in utility taxes, in addition to standard industrial water and sewer rate revenues.

The Joliet City Council will have the final say at a public hearing on the annexation and rezoning March 16 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. Council will vote on the proposed project’s annexation agreement, zoning change from agricultural A-1 to light industrial I-1 and a preliminary planned unit development.

Stephanie Irvine is a freelance reporter.