Planning & Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

Monday, December 1st, 2025. Could we start with a roll call, please? Here. Oleity here. He Graham here. Wright here. McMahon. Chair Maxwell here. Gorum present. Thank you so much. Move the approval of the agenda if there are any additions or deletions. If not, I will ask for a motion to approve. So moved. So moved by Oclarity. May I have a second? Second.

Seconded by a right. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Same sign. This is the public participation portion. However, um this is usually for anything that is not in the agenda. I know a lot of you have submitted questions and would like to speak. Um however, I'm going to ask if you would to wait until the presentations are over because I think that might answer a lot of the things that you guys are curious about. Um, oh, approval of minutes. Sorry. Um, we need to move to the approval of the minutes from November 17th, 2025. So, move. Moved by Pina Graham. Seconded. Second. Seconded by Fab. All in favor say I. I.

All oppose. Same sign. Um, again, this is the public participation portion, but again, what I would ask is if if you are willing to wait until the presentations are over. I think this will answer a lot of the questions that you may have up front. Um, and as we're going through these, I will ask also just for the sake of everybody's time. If your questions have been answered, um, please check that off your list before you come and to the podium. Um, first order of new business, public hearing a petition by JJK 345 LLC, Chicago Midwest Business Center for an approval of the annexation, reszoning, development plan, building elevations, and final platt of subdivision of subdivision for approximately 560 acres of property generally located along the east and west sides of State Route 23 north of Keslinger Road and west of Creo Road. proposed is a multi- multi-phase data center development known as Edgewood project vector. A total of four data center campuses buildings data center campus buildings are proposed and two electrical substations. Um I understand we have presentations. If you could just state your name for the record. My name is Jerry Krinski. Uh I am here on behalf of Chicago West Business Center uh located at 21107 Swift Drive, Oakbrook, Illinois.

They have it noted for the Mr. McD slide. Jeff Okay. Yeah.

Good. Good evening everybody. I let me just get adjusted here so that you can hear me. Uh I am here in front of the commission this evening asking for your approval uh and your support obviously for the annexation resoning and the uh uh final site plan approval for what we referred to as region two and region three expansion of the Chicago West Business Center. Um you can see the aerial there obviously um the area south of our phase one. Bear with me a second. It doesn't There we go. Uh on the south portion of the meta development uh for this uh proposed project. What I'd like to do uh in the presentation here in a short while is give a little more detail about the project. um background what we're proposing and of course introduce you to the uh proposed operator for this development. But before I do that, if you don't mind, I'd like to just step back a little bit in give you a some history and background of the Chicago West development. There we go. So uh what I want to share with this uh audience is back in 2005 the city of Decalps uh issued an updated comprehensive plan and that was really to encourage industrial development basically south of 88. You can see it right here on the uh comp plan map back then. and and as you are aware you can see that this was all rural agriculture

area in the past. Um I must note that um after about 10 years after that comp plan was issued there was really no activity of development here. We we responded to many many RFPs, but unfortunately there was really very little activity. And so the county and the city and other officials uh leaders in the in the community here decided to apply for an enterprise zone um designation which offered tax incentives. And I just also wanted to make note of this here image if you don't mind that. I'll refer to it uh here uh a little later in the presentation. But with that, you know, it took 15 years and finally we were successful. We were successful to bring Ferrara and Meta at that time. It was referred to as Facebook that we all know um to the community here. It was a major major win and it really changed the direction of Decal in my opinion. and we brought tax dollar. We brought obviously uh both uh construction jobs and permanent employment to the area and it was it was a major impact for the uh for the area. Shortly after uh that in 2022, the city of Decalb issued an updated comprehensive plan and uh really I think to leverage that success and clearly identified uh as a major goal to aggressively pursue more industrial and potentially data center to the area here. So that was something that um was well underway and in and really to try to reinforce the the the success that occurred here.

At the same time, we began assembling additional land for future development and we were fortunate to get the same support from the state of Illinois recognizing that the calp had changed and it changed significantly for a many positive ui situation here. And so the state of Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity uh also uh issued a grant for uh encouraging development uh namely in region two and in our region three. So the also we also requested the county to expand our enterprise zone um in this area to um again pursue opportunities and with that in March of uh 2023 the we received unanimous support from the local enterprise zone board to expand the uh the enterprise zone as well as department of commerce and econ economic opportunity then granted their certification in May of 24. So, um, lots of wheels were in motion and and in addition to, uh, some of the incentives, um, from government authorities, the community was really working, um, together to look at regional expansion and that included the important infrastructure, not only for what was proposed for Chicago West Business Center, but what was necessary for the area and one of those major components uh was the partnership with Commonwealth Edison. Um the city of Decal, the county

uh worked very carefully to um bring additional resources, power resources to the area here. And as you're aware that uh the Kishwalki area reliability expansion project which was all publicly uh presented um was well underway and it just it just goes to show that this um the community was really pushing forward with this here development. not only power but we have been working with the sanitary district, the water department and others really to expand regional infrastructure for the area. Lo and behold, and I and I will say here, in what I'll refer to as six very short years, a lot of success occurred. And it was really because of the partnerships of government, agency, the community, the support from NIU, uh, Kishwwaukee College, etc. really to deliver several million square feet of very high-end buildings that we're proud of. We're very proud of and and uh that's why we're here today to make certain that the development continues on at that same high standard. And so um I am grateful to all of the uh participants that helped uh move this move this year forward. Uh and I also I I would be remiss if I didn't thank uh Ferrara, Meta, Craft, Hind, and Amazon. Those clients that had the um gave us the confidence to come here and and build and be part of the community here going forward. So, um little bit about the past. Um now, let's talk about the future. And I think

that's that's really what everyone is here for tonight. And with that, I'm very honored to say that we have a very uh successful um partnership that we are working with Edged Data Center. Um they are part of the Endeavor group that would like to build four buildings here south of the area um in our region two and three. And this here image really, you know, it serves a couple of purposes. Number one, um it it demonstrates that this will very much follow suit with what has been built on the meta campus in many ways. The reality of it is these data centers are uh very high valued uh facilities. Um and the layout is is very similar uh to meta. But what we come before you this evening and that is um uh and we referred to this as project vector. But what we come before you this evening is to let you know that we want this done responsibly, sustainably and really to let it fit in with the harmony of the area. We met Meta has built a highquality facility and rest assured Edged and Endeavor would uh certainly want to do the the same here with this development. Now the development uh in total will be four buildings. Uh uh in summary it's about just under 3 million square feet across 560 acres. There will be two substations that serve these uh buildings here and they will be built in

four phases. One building at a time obviously um those those buildings um you know we're projecting uh timeline of 6 to 8 years for ultimate construction. But that may vary depending on market conditions, uh, Commonwealth Edison and and and other, uh, other sources. Um, as you can see, we are very committed to nicel lookinging facilities, architecturally designed, certainly uh, with, uh, significant amount of screening and other things um, that would go forward. uh with with this here project. And um they as well want to create a good working environment to attract high quality workforce and employees and and these are high-paying jobs uh to one extent and there will be a lot of service providers that are necessary for these types of uh of buildings. I can tell you that um and and and we have a couple of uh uh guests in the office. Both uh James and Elder uh flew in this evening because they want to be part of this community. Uh we've been working with this group for about six months now. The CEO has been in town on multiple occasions. We've had multiple meetings here. Um these here are um a group that are very very sensitive to sustainability. They are setting some new technology standards u uh as it relates to these types of facilities. But uh you can see from their shared values, we really felt as though they were the right fit for this project. And

we're very excited. We're very excited um to make this introduction here. we're not hiding behind a project code name. Uh they want they want you to know that they want to be part of the community as well. Now there's been many concerns with data centers and I think to some degree uh there's been uh some misperception and we want to make certain that we're very clear about this project going forward. uh there needless to say have been some of those data centers that have consumed large quantities of water. This design here uh will be a waterless design. They will they will basically have a closed loop system uh with their air handling units that will bring both air and water directly to the data halls and that's how they create great efficiencies. Um but most important it will not draw from the city water other than domestic use and the initial you know fill of these hair systems. So re really great to hear the advancement in uh in this hair industry um going forward. Emergency generators, temporary power, those types of things are also another very large concern with the data center industry. And again, because of their leadership in the industry here, they are want they are advancing new technology called Turboell is their brand name if you will. But these here are natural gas turbo cell powered um um electrical sources and they are a very

low emission device. They are unlike the traditional diesel backup generators that are noisy. They you know are they make u uh a lot of exhaust things of that nature. So, um, this here is the newest technology and they will be obligated to meet all of the current standards from both noise as well as emission standards um, here locally and with the Illinois EPA. It's really some phenomenal technology. I I' I've seen this firsthand and I can't tell you how uh how impressed um, uh, these systems are going forward. the we're concerned about the environment, the harmony of the environment. So, as I mentioned, uh there are a lot of similarities to the meta campus, but what we're doing here is we are increasing the screen walls, the setback, the uh uh uh equipment screens, those things. So from a line of sight, this operation from any public roadway will really be screened um uh much more aggressively um or adjacent to residential areas. And we actually completed I believe it's eight different line of sight sections really uh in those critical areas because we want to be good neighbors. Um uh the these are large very um uh um complex facilities with lots of equipment. Um but we want to be good neighbors uh as it relates to that. And so these here studies have been included in our packet as well.

Now it goes beyond just pretty pictures. The we have taken a very thorough look at this development and everything from traffic studies to noise and emission studies. We've done photometrics of the uh exterior lighting and how we can utilize dark sky light fixtures as an example so that we really do not impact the area in a negative way. We've done landscape plans and we want to really focus that those priorities in all good design practices so that we can accomplish you know the best harmony uh with the you know the the look and the operation of this here facility. And we also know that there's been a lot of negative perception as it relates to uh power costs and are your electric bills going to go up because of this? And I I want to make this very very clear. This facility here will not impact the city of Decal's utility power cost. What does do that is more of a national impact on what's happening with the industry with transmission and power generations. And so um what these data centers do now with these large uh transmission applications is there's a much greater commitment in terms of upfront contributions from these uh the client here to uh pay for deposits, pay for engineering, pay for infrastructure upgrades so that the the that the

community is the ultim Imate benefit. And in fact now what the technology allows is that at certain times they can even utilize these facilities to take some of the load off of the the grid. So they are bringing improvements to the area from a regional power standpoint. So I just want to wrap things up here. Um lots of benefits. Certainly the um you know there will be some immediate benefits with you know um uh good paying union construction jobs for many years and we've been a very very strong partner uh with the local trade groups. It also will support local businesses that um will participate and suppliers uh in this year project. Um and there's a residual impact during construction obviously to the local restaurants, gas stations, uh things of that nature, but on a permanent basis when these facilities are up in operation, it brings really a significant benefit from a real estate tax um um contribution to all of the taxing bodies. It will also uh again bring highpaying jobs. this first facility. Uh, EDG is anticipating about a hundred full-time employees to operate a facility of this complexity. Um, just, you know, just several other things with that. So, I'll conclude with again asking for your support and definitely let you know that um, we are here. We want to be a continued good

partner with the city of Decal. Thank you, Mr. Kusinski. And was there a second portion of the presentation? I got to give it to Dan.

Yes, Chairman. Uh there's a staff report in your packets. Uh Mr. Krosinski went through a very thorough background, so I won't repeat a lot of the information, but again, this is a proposed annexation. uh approval of the reszoning to plan development industrial, approval of a development plan, building elevations, and a final plat uh for the subject site. Uh the site of course is uh contiguous to the city. You can see the outline of the aerial here showing the city limits in the black uh line, but the red shows the proposed annexation area of the property. And you did see the U plans there uh showing the four buildings and the two electrical substations that are part of the project. Uh was noted the building one uh with the square footage in your packet about 980 square ft. Building two 550,000 square ft and uh building three comparable to building one and building 4 about 490,000 square ft. and estimated completion the building one uh fourth quarter 2027 and building 4 looking at 2032. So it's kind of phased out uh over the uh development. Uh Mr. Kazinski went over the uh background of the company regarding utilities, electrical power, the water usage, etc. Some of the planning uh items just briefly noted in the staff report that'll be PDI zoning similar to Meta and Ferrer Craftines that whole southeast area of the city. Uh no waiverss or variances were requested from the UDO. Uh we did get a letter from the Illinois Department of Agriculture when they looked at the enterprise zone expansion for these two regions. They indicated and the letter was attached to in the background materials and copied for you a letter from April 2024 that the department considered the enterprise zone expansion

consistent with the department of commerce economic opportunities agricultural land preservation policy in the Illinois farmland preservation act. So, they were good with that. And again, the county's uh comp plan, D, the Cal County encourages development annexed into cities, contiguous to cities, not leaprogged and out in the middle of the farmland. So, uh roadways will be uh privately owned within. They all connect to the public roadways, Creger Road, Kesslinger, and Route 23. There'll be private ring roads around the buildings with uh adequate for fire police access and also there'll be uh fire hydrants around those of course meeting the uh city code regarding that. Uh detention areas are shown there on the plan in blue. They'll meet or exceed the uh city's uh storm water ordinance. Height of the buildings were noted. Uh there's a 20 75 foot max but these buildings are going to be in that 25 to 40 foot high. Uh as Mr. Krosinski showed some of the u visuals on that. Uh the parking lot lighting will shine downward shoe box and not shine horizontally on adjacent properties and uh several supplemental plans were provided to the commission uh for background. Uh looking at the uh for resoning the commission looks at the findings of fact. Um now let's go through those. Uh the first one looks at the the comprehensive plan of course 2022 comp plan. can be approved. The map showed this is the current city boundary and black dash line. The purple is industrial use. So this whole area here see purple is the subject site. So all of it was shown as industrial. There was also statements in the comp plan for industrial development regarding uh encouraging more data centers. That was a specific item in the comp plan for that industrial development. Also, it encouraged expansion of the industrial

area in the southeast part of the city that was encouraged in the comp plan uh for this area. Um and also mentioned the 2005 comp plan did have some commercial uses in this area. So for a long time this has been designated for uh commercial industrial type uses. So, uh, they meet the standard, uh, number one and also note the, uh, letter from the, uh, state of Illinois, Department of Agriculture supporting it. Uh, the reasonzoning, uh, complies with the UDO. They're meeting all the standards and the PDI gives the city and owner flexibility on the project. We get to review the building elevations. They get some flexibility on the phasing of development. Uh we take a look at the any effects on adjacent properties. Uh we determined they won't have any uh negative impacts on adjacent properties. They're showing noise studies, emission studies. They're laying out the detention ponds. They're proposing BMS that will screen some of the data center buildings. Um there's large scale obviously Meta right next door and up on Gerler Road several um manufacturing warehouse distribution facilities. So this will be right adjacent to the zoning is compatible with the surrounding area. Um and the extension of utilities and upgrading of the roadways will increase the value of the adjacent farm parcels and other u adjacent lots in this area with the expansion of the utilities should raise the values of adjacent property. So we don't see any negative impacts uh from this development. A lot of positive ones particularly economic. Uh also looking at uh public facilities services went through regarding the water usage and electrical by the applicant and this project has adopted the best practices with respect to powering and cooling of high-speed processing equipment and continue operation environmental emissions noise and energy sources. So

we believe they meet all the five findings of fact for a reasonzoning public input. We did get uh letters strong support from these following organizations and taxing districts and they were copied in their background materials. We make copies tonight on your desk. Dalb County Economic Development Corporation, Dalb Chamber of Commerce, Decal Park District, Decal Public Library, Kishwwaukee College, Kishwwaukee Water Reclamation District, Dalb School District 428 and uh today we earlier today we received a letter of support from NIOU. So all those have provided strong support for this project for many reasons particularly economic uh letters from the public. I know we have a lot of speakers tonight. We did get an email from uh Shirley Balikica B L I K A. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right. Uh lives on Gerler Road had some questions, concerns regarding the project which I think were answered and that uh copy of that letter is provided to you. Uh but I don't know if she's here going to speak but uh I think all the questions were answered for her and you got a copy of that. Um so in conclusion we recommend approval of this uh major project uh regarding investment uh jobs uh construction new tax revenue for the site. There's a sample motion prepared that again approves upon annexation reszoning to PDI. Approves the four data center buildings, two electrical substations uh per the development plans which include the uh plan here. That's the development plan. the building elevations which were shown to there in the final plata subdivision which creates a basically lots for each individual building. Um and then the standards on exhibit B uh the first paragraph uh talks about construction of additional buildings

improvements. So, in the future as buildings come on, I'll have to submit detailed engineering plans for each lot, each building, uh, and building plans for those. They'll reviewed by the city manager, see if they're compatible or comply with the approved development plan that you're looking at tonight in terms of layout of the building and access, etc. If they do, they'll have to meet the requirements, get a permit. There's no additional review by the commission needed unless they make some major change to it or amend a uh one of the development standards and they'd have to come back for a new hearing. But long as they're compliance with the plan and the standards uh they'll be allowed to proceed and again this is phased over for many years. So in the uh standards there you see the setbacks for buildings and parking those are very comparable or even more than what was approved for Meta and Ferrer Craft Hind are very comparable setbacks uh compared to those to this project too. So, uh, and then there's the maximum building height, landscaping per the UDO, lighting per the unified development ordinance, parking, uh, be looked at with the city and the owner, uh, what works the best, and this is not a part big parking generator. Anyway, uh, fences, signs per the UDO. We also, uh, prove in here, particularly the, um, this, uh, area here up off of Ger Road. It's a detention area on the far north end of the phase 4. Uh that that area is strictly no structures allowed in that only detention and conservation purposes only. So that's a very specific u exhibit uh shown in there. And uh with that u city manager Nicholas wanted to go over a few items uh particularly the incentives on the

uh thank you. There are a lot of people waiting to speak, so I'll be very brief. Uh, two quick things. U in the leadup to a lot of this print material you have and and u uh very uh good presentations you've heard from Mr. Guzinski and from Dan. U there were a lot of conversations. This didn't just start a couple weeks ago. It started months ago. And uh I can say uh along the way one of the things that impressed the city was uh first of all that Mr. Krinsk's property and his uh the ethic of his company was involved. Uh as as you can see there are lots of examples where uh he has been able to site uh companies not only willing to make a a substantial investment but also to build very large buildings on on land that uh in other places uh in our northern Illinois region would look pretty pretty cramped and and so forth. Uh there there are very deep setbacks. Uh there's there's lots of amenities and landscaping and and more than adequate uh storm water retention and detention and so forth plus the smaller amenities uh that you see the signage and so forth all has to uh pass muster. Uh that's that's encouraging and uh getting things done on time and in a collaborative way has always been good for us. But let me just speak to the company. uh we have traveled so that we could see behind the pictures that we were starting to get even early on. Obviously, you can go on the internet and I think I hope some of the people in the audience tonight have to look up Edged or to look up Endeavor and to see what they do and what they say about themselves. So, the mayor and I traveled out of state and we've traveled instate and other places to see just what they do and also what they build in a way machines to help them do

what they intend to do. And I have to say that we're we're most impressed. Uh I'm I'm not a an engineer. Uh I am interested in seeing that the companies that want to invest in our our community, whether they're small or large, whether downtown businesses or large industrial corporations are looking to be up with the times, so to speak. And the times are changing in exponent exponential fashion in the area of IT and tech and also the storage of the data which as we're here sitting here tonight people who have their phones and uh who who have other devices are creating more storage needs just by the second. So what happens? Well, we're not going to do away with data centers. So, don't we as a community want to set some standards and set them high and see that the companies that we collaborate with are going to meet those standards or exceed those standards? And I think we have found that and edged. I don't think I I I know it. Uh the mayor and I have have seen and touched and talked and walked and uh others u there are two people here tonight from the from the company who are happy to answer questions of the commission later on. Uh one last thing on impact. Um there will be more on this at the city council meeting which is where this is more of a central uh topic. Uh we don't know what the final numbers will be. We do have some pretty good numbers on where we are now that Meta has all of its buildings up and operating and in a short five years. U the announcement was in June of 2020 and here we are the end of 2025. Uh and uh what I can tell you is based on numbers from Decalp County from the supervisor assessments including this year's assessed

valuations uh the actual investment from Meta to date is $2.5 billion. That's in market value. A third of that is 835 million dollars in EAV. that EAV uh through 24. We don't have the 24 numbers yet. Tax levies are still being uh registered with the county and and taxing bodies are still having some final discussion on those and we'll know better in the spring where we are with the application of these various levies that turn into rates. Um, but what Meta has churned up in in 2022, 2023, and 2024 for local taxing bodies is over $46 million. $46 million. Um, the U square footage of Meta is 2.5 million. The projected square footage here is 2.9 plus. So I suspect we are going to see a very big uh impact in terms of economic impact and also uh and this is not something most people think about. I think about it because this goes right into the city's operating fund and it helps pay for for street u improvements and uh snow removal and all the rest of that. And that's utility tax. So the electrical utility tax is also not known but projecting uh what we can of where we've been with meta um before meta came our utility tax was rising about four to 5% a year uh better than flat um not not turnurning out a remarkable uh amount of money new money in on the electrical side um and we at this point are not sure how much electrical power is going to be

used from Kameed. Uh but uh we do know that many times the average bump of four to 5% will be realized. My estimate at this point is uh upon uh energizing and that might be two three years out uh we will see a bump of about three or $400,000 on the electrical utility tax per year. Wow. So that's uh what I have to report for now and um I'll I'll stop and let the public be heard.

Okay. Thank you, Bill. Um again, with respect to people that would like to speak, if your questions have been answered already, um please just uh check it off your list. Um I'll call them out um in as much as I can tell the order that I receive them. Um just to remind everybody though, this is not a question and answer. This is simply you can come to the podium and state your questions and we'll try to do our best to kind of collectively if there's anything that that reappears several times we'll see if we can address those at the end. Um, the first person I may have is William Heinson. Heish, sorry.

Good evening. Uh, Will Haish is my name. Um, I've been in front of many boards and commissions over the last 25 years. Um, as many people recognize me. Uh I'm here tonight. I own uh property adjacent residential property to this proposed development in uh South Point Greens Indic. And uh for me, this was a concern. Uh however, in looking at the 160 plus pages and through all the diagrams and doing the background information, research, I'm supporting this project uh based on multiple prongs. Uh, one, this is a development that I want to have next to the property I own in South Point Greens. I believe it's got a very low impact uh, for our residential community and for the future uh, in comparison what potentially could be built there. uh if we go back and look uh even 25 years ago I was uh part of the uh focus decelb where 25 years ago we were seen as business unfriendly in decal. We have worked hard, a lot of business leaders and people in this community have worked hard to change that and these are the fruits of that labor of 25 years ago, 20 years ago and a lot of hard work from the developments that we have brought forth uh coming you know change is inevitable and if we fail to change eventually we're going to fail and even over the years as I look back from the start of barb wire to Decal bag to GE, Spalding, Whirlitzer, all those companies are no longer here. This company may no longer be here in 50 to 75 years. But if we don't continue to embrace change and accept a positive impact like this on our community, eventually we will fail. So, I'm here to

support the project. Thank you. Thank you, Bill. Um, and again, I'm sorry I can't read the last name, but Russell Burns.

Oh, my name is Russell Burns. Uh, I live at 17889 State Route 23. And if you look in the diagram, basically I live in the middle of the residential area at Ger and 23. Uh, and I've lived there. We bought the property in 1973 and we bought 8 acres and we subdivided it and my daughter lived in one house and my brother-in-law lived in one house and anyway, we're the only ones left. But our property goes all the way back to the property owned by Jerry. Um, so our property line, our back property line is contiguous. Um, the I don't really like industrial zoning. Uh, I don't know if you all remember, but I was city attorney back in the 80s and I used to go to all the planning commission meetings and zoning meetings. I was assistant city attorney in the 60s under Joe Ebson. I did the same thing. Uh, and I'd ever heard where a finger going up into residential property or surrounded on three sides by residential property is good zoning. Uh, I used to do subdividing for the Cats family and I used to fight like hell to get residential subdivisions next to residential subdivisions. Uh but anyway, um I've met with Bill Nicholas a couple times and it's my understanding that with it's agreeable

with the developer and it would be agreeable as that behind there's 15 acre parcel between our residential and the railroad track. uh and that's shown on there as a retention area. And if you look on page 13 of 13 on the packet, it talks about a conservation area and it says that uh I'll let you read it basically no building. It's going to be a retention or detention and it's going to be a conservation area. So with that restriction then we really don't have any real complaint except we want to make sure that restriction stays on the property. Uh I'm 85 years old or 84 years old. In 2032 I'll be 92. I probably won't be out there. But it will affect the value of my property and the quality of life whoever lives there. And right now it's a good quality of life. Uh but as long as it's going to be with that restriction, whatever goes on there, whether they change it, somebody else comes in, as long as it's this restriction here is on there and it's on there permanently, then we don't have a complaint. And I don't think it will affect the value of our property. Uh, but I would like to add, and I'll pass it out, which I just thought about this afternoon after I read this, one clause that I'd like to add to that paragraph.

She hit it one back at me. Thank you. Yeah,

there's an extra. Did you want a copy?

Yeah, I gave Bill one. And I don't know if I gave Dan one, but I'd like that provision added that the version of this paragraph cannot be amended on any present or future plans. So that there will always be a retention pond or conservation or something like that back there. There won't be any buildings. And uh I've got to say and we weren't here. We never objected with Facebook across the street and if you'd gone by there's a big burm but we were told at the time that they would put up a burm and there would be a retention area behind it and that's what he did. So I got to say you know they did what they said they were going to do. So I assuming cherry we he's here in good faith and that that area will be this and it'll stay this and with that condition you know it's okay with us.

Okay. Thank you for your perspective Mr. Burns and the staff supports additional language. Okay provide um Paul Meyer I'm here to speak on college. Oh gotcha. Sorry, I just had a stack in front of me. Um, Keith Bispinghoff. Bispling. Yeah, you got it right for a long time. Yeah, please come forward if you'd like. I think I've heard all.

Okay, thank you very much. I appreciate that. I have a Jake Christristan Christristanza Castanza, sorry. Hi, Jake Castanza. I'm with Laborers Local 32. I live in Rockford. Uh the organization comprises of over 750 members with more than 200 living in Decal and its neighboring communities. Um we are in favor of this project. Um, in addition to its good jobs, uh, data centers and the companies that invest, um, are investing in local education, workforce development, and sustainability initiatives, and they partner with communities for long-term success. So, today I brought two laborer apprentices whose careers were actually spurred by the data center. um one of them at Meta um hard hats in hand as well as a local contractor by the name of Elliot and Wood who was able to add on an apprentice. Um the way we see it is when Union jobs meets community vision, everybody wins. It's not just about the jobs, it's about doing it sustainably and responsibly. And that's why we're in support of this project. Thank you.

Thank you, Jake. I appreciate it. Um, Shirley Bleika, good evening.

I did this. Um, my name is Shirley Ble. I live on Gerler Road. I did submit some questions, but I have further questions about the noise. I don't know if this company has built a facility with this turbo cell already. And I want to know what the noise level is going to be because I've read about previous data centers that have noise levels that maybe they met the EPA expectation. However, people complain that they could hear the noise 24 hours a day while they're in bed, while they're in their backyard. I want to make sure that that does not happen here. And also that I feel you are putting this in a neighborhood because we live on a ger people at South Point. There's a lot of people that will be negatively affected even if you say you don't think it is but it is. And I feel that the part of um this development that is on the west side of 23 is a bad location and it should there's a lot of farmland on the other side and can't half of that be over there. I know you've guys been working on it, but we just found out about it. But I feel it's will negatively affect all of us on the south side and our property values will go down. So who's going to buy your house when you have that in your backyard? So maybe you make a bunch of money, but I don't think it's in our best interest, the people that live there.

Okay. Thank you, Shirley. I appreciate your perspective. Thanks for participating. Uh, Emily McKe.

Hi, I'm Emily McKe. Um, I have a number of real deep concerns about this project in this location. Um, in terms of land and water, less water now that I've learned that it's waterless in terms of land, electricity use in particular, and some local quality of life issues. But I wanted to talk to electricity in particular. Um, it is it is not a foregone conclusion despite the the waves of AI use that we necessarily need to invite an energy gobbling facility like this into our community. I have real big concerns about energy use and carbon um contributions of a facility like this. We haven't heard how much energy it will actually how many how much electricity it will actually use. Um but given what we know about other comparable data centers particularly that it's waterless so therefore the cooling is going to have to come through electricity of cooling the air that that electricity load is going to be very very high. Um I would like some more clarity on that before anything moves forward but also I would like some clarity on how the costs are going to be distributed of the infrastructure that need that's being built to meet these needs. We heard a comment from the presenter that this facility wouldn't contribute to any hikes because of infrastructure builds by KMED, but we have no no understanding of why that might be because we know that other data centers have led to those hikes because new lines need to be brought in and generally status quo without any other agreements is that that cost gets distributed among all the users. So therefore residences, small businesses are all subsidizing the use by a large facility like this. So we need before we approve something like this, I would like to know how that's going to be avoided in this case if it can be. Uh I would also like some more clarity on the actual use of the turbo cells um and how much production is going to come from the use of natural gas versus from KMED at what different points in time. There

was some discussion about by 2028 they would be um able to use a technology that would be zero you know zero carbon but it's unproven. we have no um demonstrated uses of this elsewhere. So I have a lot of concerns about sacrificing really valuable land, really valuable community space for unproven technology um and real costs to our electricity use and and carbon emissions. Okay, thank you for p your perspective, Emily. Um, Chuck Shepard.

Chuck Shepard. I've also been before you guys a number of different times. I'm a general contractor 50 plus years in this market. And although I don't work directly on projects that are south of the tollway, the commercial necessary for our community because of these projects are performed by companies like mine. I've uh seen over the years the ups and downs of the national economy which had direct uh effects on us sometimes negatively but the loss of the barber greens GE world anaconda decal bag these new projects that are going on south of the tollway now are becoming a replacement of those and replacing and helping our our tax base. um they they will shore up all the taxing bodies. And so I would ask you to vote yes this evening. I would also personally like to give a thanks to Jerry Krosinski and his his uh family and construction group to hang in there. 205 they they bought into our our community and and we were just on a downswing and he they stayed the stay saved the case and and here we are 2025 20 years later and are doing quite well with our tax bases. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Um Roy Jones My name is Jones. I have a prepared statement, but I'll try not to take too long on it. This month, Tical Cal Planning and Zoning is again considering a proposal to prepare 560 acres bought over the past few years. City leaders are again touting job creation, this time with an environmentally responsible plan. In an attempt to address overlapping concerns in light considerations of future planning, I want to ask why is it so easy to allocate and develop land for resource intensive warehouses but so hard to conceptualize land use for grid elements such as publicly owned agricult investment company power projects blooming on small parcels. But where is the residential benefit when we are pursuing maximal resource usage and electricity demand? As much as we all love the internet, technological innovation, taxable Silicon Valley assets, and money for schools, working on further data center proposals is not in line with best practices in stewardship and land management. How many does the city envision building? How long do we have to be subject to the West Coast's new manifest destiny? Without us, without us holding the core value of energy independence, we will never materialize net zero emissions and negative utility bills. Planning and zoning thus far is giving a perpetual lease of our land and resources to out ofstate entities at flat rates for the promise of many jobs. However, when looking at the population of Dalb and knowing workers in this city commute from across the county, few jobs arrive with data centers. How many jobs do these projects bring? And how do we define new jobs? Are they jobs for actually existing people here or to

bring hypothetical people in? We need to move past this warehouse phase of investments, draw a line of how much corporate sponsorship we require and move on to the opportunities of prioritizing infrastructure investment in renewable self-sufficient micro grids belonging to the municipalities of Illinois, especially when global investments in renewable power and grids overtook fossil fuels in 2023. And yes, as much as we want to name it otherwise, natural gas is still a fossil fuel. Some can see this unimaginable amount of water per DM being supplanted with natural gas as progressive. But how does this affect our emissions balance, our gross methane emissions? Electricity bills are already rising nationally because of data centers. Now, will our gas bills be affected? At a time when ex-urban communities like Yorkville are both siphoning water from the Great Lake and building 1,000 acre acacre data centers, we are dealing with land use and energy consumption that exacerbates the strain on an already overexloited biome. It is one thing to muse that vector will be more green than a number of its outmoded predecessors. But how do we substantiate the claim that it is carbon neutral? In light of the resource and electricity intensity of data centers, it is demoralizing there is insufficient public consideration allocated to sustain our ecological sources for energy and water, including an aggressive deployment of sustainable energy, protections for shrinking wetlands networks, and significant commitments for prairie restoration to mitigate existing global warming in Dal County. We need to rep prioritize now and recognize the duty we have to remediate existing ecological systems by working to ensure real energy equity that doesn't capitulate our environmental security. I'm in attendance today for the Decal Commissions and representatives to prioritize a deep ecology in all future planning. To the edged representatives, I ask how is the plot of native plants substantial and not just ornamental? How is the plant hydrogen compatible? What is this innovative methane pyrolysis technology?

To the commission, the city, the county, and all of us residents, I asked this. What are we doing surrounded by field corn and warehouse jobs? How do we prioritize stewardship, energy equity, food security while investing in a sustainable city that serves a beautiful life? Thank you. Thank you, Roy. Appreciate your perspective. Uh Melissa Amido.

Hi, I'm Melissa Medio. Um happy to be up here in support of Project Vector. I'm the executive director of Dalp County Economic Development Corporation. Uh a lot of uh what I'm going to speak about has already been covered. However, I just want to reiterate the impact that this will have on from a major revenue standpoint with taxes. I think even just looking at what the growth in the Chicago West Business Center has brought to date is is massive. Um, and then also, you know, when we think about what data centers in Illinois alone since 2023 have brought, there was a recent article in the cranes Chicago business stated November 15th that in 2023, data centers generated $1.9 billion in state and local taxes in Illinois. Um, project vector will generate millions of dollars that will directly support our schools, transportation networks, public safety, and increased quality of life initiatives. These are tangible, they're measurable, and they do benefit the DECAL residents. From a jobs and workforce development standpoint, yes, it will bring hundreds of construction and skilled trade jobs during a multi-year phase. Um, along with, as what was touched on, highquality, high-paying permanent positions in technology and operations once the data centers are are up and running. um the construction and these skilled jobs also for it is a multi-year project will bring business into and jobs then you know is they're here spending money right so we're going to bring in these construction people these skilled laborers they're going to be in our communities spending dollars and those will also need to create jobs um from a sustainable and modern technology um standpoint I think the fact that they're using waterless cool loop cooling technology which will be protecting our local water resources is important important. I also want to emphasize that their employment of innovative turboell power technology will ma maximize efficiency and reduce

energy waste which has a positive effect on where the costs and more energy comes from and then supports the expansion of clean energy in general. Um from a responsible land use and approvals perspective, the site was added to the Dalp County Enterprise Zone with full approval from the Illinois Department of Agriculture for industrial use. I think we talked a lot tonight about how the community economic development plans also long-term have talked about this being a perfect um case for what can happen with this land. When we think about long-term growth, um we need to continue to to think about that. A lot of those conversations happened. They didn't just happen in the past year in the past five years. A lot of these discussions have happened um for a few few decades. Um in summary, Project Vector is a forward-looking responsible development. It delivers economic growth, community investment, sustainable technology, and long-term creation. It positions DELB and DELB county as leaders in the digital economy while providing real benefits that improve daily life for all residents. DCEDC strongly encourages advancing this project and recognizes its potential to contribute meaningful to Dalb County's continued economic vitality. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Melissa. Karen Larson.

Good evening. I'm Karen Larson. I moved here about two and a half years ago. Um this is the first time I've ever been to a council meeting, but this is a really important um event for the the community as a whole and as the county as a whole as well. And personally, I don't think I have any information that I really need to have to answer some of my questions. It's certainly not going to be answered in this short meeting. And I look at the volume of people that are here. It seems to be a very hot topic and people need a lot more information to feel comfortable with the decision that's about to be made. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Lance McIll.

Good evening, Commission. Uh name is Lance McIll, resident of South Point Greens. Uh for the last 10 years I've been a business agent with local 150 for eight years. Prior to that I was in the organizing department and for the last three years uh I've been president of the Decal County Building and Construction Trades Council. So want to speak a little bit on behalf of this project and what it's meant to our members. Uh similar project Meta at one time had 1500 tradesmen working every day on the project. That doesn't include engineers, safety, everyone, actual tradesmen going to work. Payroll on that was roughly with benefits $5 million a week. This is life-changing. People were out there for 5 years. We've got 30-year-old members that have houses paid for thanks to data centers. Again, members under 30 making over $200,000 a year thanks to data centers. So to say these don't change lives is without question a falsehood. Uh along with that uh as a resident of South Point um I'm in all the taxing bodies that are primarily affected by this project and since 2021 to 2024 taxing year my taxes have gone down 18%. So you can see it put in dollar value. there is impact to the community everywhere and on that behalf uh the Decal County Building Trades Council would recommend you approve this project. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. McIll. Uh we have a Michelle McIll.

Good evening. My name is Michelle McIll and I have been a lifelong resident of the city of Dalb and currently live on Pebble Beach Court in South Point Greens. you can see on that screen over there or over here. Uh our house is actually between the two ponds. I don't know like on the There you go. Um my neighborhood is located across the train tracks as you can see from Project Vector. When people come to uh my neighborhood to visit my home for the first time, the words I typically hear are, "Wow, I didn't know this neighborhood existed. It's so quiet and peaceful, and you have a gorgeous view." After living here for 12 years, I truly believe it's a gem of decelp. A little country living while still in the city. And I'm just here tonight as a concerned resident. If or when Project Vector passes, the whole area is going to change. After years of loud construction vehicles moving around and kicking up dust less than two football field lengths from my home, the peace and tranquility of my neighborhood will be long gone. And in its place will be an industrial epicenter which includes two data center buildings on the west side um of 23 and a substation as you know which uh I will easily be able to see walking out my front door and from the front windows of my home. Um the city of Dalb planning and zoning page on the city website states that its obligation is to protect and maintain property values by ensuring incompatible uses are to be kept apart. For example, it is desirable to separate residential neighborhoods from industrial developments. If that's true, then how is this area of land being zoned as industrial? It may be a wish that this neighborhood was not developed as residential 20 years ago, but here we are. One of my many concerns with this industrial project is the property value of my home. This changes my view completely.

How am I supposed to be able to sell my property when I'm able to see a data center or other industrial warehouses from my front porch? I am very concerned for my children and neighbors health and well-being during and after the development. A data a data center will create non-stop noise 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. And if you haven't stood outside of Meta's data center buildings and heard the constant noise that they make, I encourage you to do that. For residents of the neighborhood, it will be difficult to filter out the noise that will cause anxiety, stress, and sleep disruption, as well as other potential health risks that are not even known. There are many more concerns I have about the data center, but as one of the residents living the closest to this proposed data center, I feel as though I must ask you, will there be a guarantee that the residents in the surrounding areas voices be heard? Will there be a guarantee to build BMS high enough for me not to be able to see or hear these buildings and substation from my house? With the present mapping, I do not see this as a priority. I see BMS being placed along Route 23 with minimal thought to residents. Um because there's a detention pond right there, I don't see any BMS um by like blocking my view. Is it possible to um add micro forests to improve air quality and re uh reduce the urban heat island effect? Will this well and you've already answered this question about lighting. So, I appreciate the dark skylights because we can see constellations and northern lights from our neighborhood. These questions and many more have weighed very heavily on me since this project was publicly announced. And I understand it's been talked about for a while, but as a resident of Decal, I ask you, is the propo proposed data center the right

choice? And if you live where I live, would you vote to reszone the property region two across the tracks from your home as industrial? Thank you.

Thank you for your perspective, Michelle. Um, Ben Roers. Rotors. Uh, hi. I'm Ben Roers. I'm over on South First Street. Uh, I am completely against this whole data center uh, project vector. Um, couple big things. Yeah, it's waterless, but what do they use inside of the water? Sorry. So, data centers release particular matter of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide generators risk exposure. Hold on, I'm all over the place here. Um, I just have one question. the liquid cooling systems, do they use uh ethylene glycol any? No, not looking. All right.

Yeah, I'm sorry. Again, just to be clear, we're not doing the Q&A now. All right. Speaker can ask a question directly to the petitioner and the petitioner can get up and respond. Okay. To the mic. We use propane to the mic. Could you approach the mic please? Up to the microphone. Yeah, you need to

we use food quality propylene glycol in the closed loop system. Okay. Thank you.

According to the EPA, ethane glycol may be discharged from the wastewater in its production and use. chronic effects non-cancerous uh were studied individuals resulted in respiratory infections, upper respiratory tract irritation, throat issues and when tested upon rats and guinea pigs they uh pulmonary inflation and reproductive development issues. Uh several studies of rodents exposed orally or inhalation showed ethylene glycol to affect animal fetuses. Fetto toxicity manifests as in increased implementation loss, delayed ocification and increased evidence of fetal malf uh fetal malf forations. Um wildlife too. I don't know if anybody's been down there or if you live there, you probably noticed the bald eagles that live there and has where are they going to go? They're a federally protected species. Um, not to mention all the deer and wildlife that we that I love out there. I moved here to live out in the country, not live in the suburbs. And that's kind of where I stand on it. Okay.

Thank you, Ben. Brian Granger. Hi there. Uh Brian Granger. I uh came to speak tonight. Uh I uh from I'm from DecalB uh and um been doing business in Decalb as long as I've been doing business and um uh but also um I used to live near near this site as well. And so I'm coming here as a perspective as a uh property owner. We own some uh farm ground or development ground as as you're aware of. And uh so I I was just um I had a few I guess uh points to to make about data centers and uh what we've seen happen um since since uh they've gotten here. So, I started in business in town here about 30 years ago. Um, building decks and fences and uh and so we've built some homes in town and and uh but al ultimately now we we build retirement communities. Um, and so when I started in business here, um, we were working for, uh, a lot of times people that worked at Decal Bag, uh, people that worked for Caterpillar, uh, we worked for people that worked at NIOU, and there was a lot of job growth at the time, a lot of opportunity. um uh that job growth um has uh drastically diminished and uh and those opportunities um that created the opportunities for us to to build homes and and uh support our

families um just aren't here anymore. Um niu is here but but the job growth is is nothing like it was in the '9s. And um and I sat in meetings um you know thinking about decalb you know with groups of business people you know 8 years ago and it was um it was pretty bleak really you know the streets had problems. Um the conversations weren't about um a prairie plants or or um uh it was it was about um will we be able to keep the number of police that we have right now? You know um what what can we do to strengthen the schools? Um they they were um they they were really really tough. Um discouraging conversations and back then um this would have been the best case scenario you could hope for uh some of the largest companies in the world uh coming to Decalb to invest billions of dollars and create jobs. Uh I I don't know the exact numbers, but I I believe Facebook now has about 300 employees with an average wage of about 85,000. Um so I I think I I think that their their payroll is pushing $30 million. So $30 million in wages um put in the hands of local Americans. I think we all know that they'll spend all $30 million, you know, maybe maybe 33 million. Um but but I I I I think that uh um that that is how that's how you know the majority of the money in the city is sales tax,

you know, and so um the sales tax on $30 million is significant. And uh and that's uh people that sell tires, that's people that that sell food, that's people that sell homes. um that is going into our local economy and uh and we've seen our schools uh strengthened financially substantially. You know, our park district is building a new facility. We see money going into our roads. Um, and I think that gives us the luxury to think about the next step, you know, and to have projects that are really considering uh the concerns environmentally, which I think is is outstanding and very exciting. Um, but uh um I I think about forest preserve. I think about um uh property values. I know a number of people have brought up property values. Um, the majority of my time I'm thinking and worrying about property values and property taxes. That's the probably the single biggest thing I have to worry about in my line of work. Um, so highpaying jobs um and close proximity uh strengthens property values. Um, and uh and I'm I'm not familiar with uh what the noise concerns would be. I'm not an expert at it. Um, but I I do think there is an expert at it involved in this project and um and so I did have a home in South Point. Um, I did sell it. It has gone up in value substantially since this project has happened. And I I think that anytime you can put a concentration of highpaying jobs in close proximity to residential, it it strengthens the

values. And um and I I think that it it it probably won't be the same like like pe people stated. Um if if you have a building built there, it is less like the country. Um, I did grow up in the country and I I love the country, but I I also understand that um at the end of the day, you know, we're all hopeful to strengthen our property values and we went many years with poor property values and as values go down, the tax rates go up. Um, so now we're at the other side of that. We're seeing our property values climb. We're seeing our property taxes fall. Um, and we're seeing uh local taxing bodies being able to make investments um in our community. That that means we can hire new uh firefighters and policemen. Um it it means that we can support our community and and and dream about the next the next thing that we can do opposed sit around a t a table and worry about the whatifs. Um, and uh, I've learned a little bit about the Turbo Excel technology. Again, I'm I'm not an expert. I'm a residential builder developer, but um, it it sounds groundbreaking to to me, and I think that that is um I think we're going to learn more about it. But I think it is um the wheel, you know, I think it is going to change energy usage as we know it. And um and I I think it's pretty exciting that we can be a part of it. Um and all this growth uh you know does have impacts on what I do. You know, we're a small residential builder. When there's large projects going on, it's hard to get concrete. You know, the the it's hard to get uh

people to work. Um everybody's busy. But uh you know I've said many times I get stress from being slow and I get stressed from being busy. And I've experienced both of those stresses and I prefer the stress from being busy. Um so uh if if our main challenge is to manage a massive economic opportunity and financial gains that give us the opportunity to to make big a big difference in our community. Um those are the kind of problems I hope we continue to face. Um, this is the golden goose and uh we need to be careful not not to kill it because there's a small percentage of the United States that's gaining a massive e economic opportunity from uh data centers like this and we need to to make sure that that um that we can gain that uh huge financial benefit and and I I think that we need to um to to use these new resources wisely and uh and and the benefits to the local residents are we we've already seen it. But this is this is um a real opportunity to to you know we hear about complaints about property taxes all the time. Um this is a massive influx of money to pay the bills our property taxes pay. And so, um, this this is the opportunity. So, I would ask you to vote yes for this project. Thank you.

Thank you, Brian. Um, lastly, we have Derek Davis.

Not lastly. Uh, I live in South Point. I I have no problem with data centers, but I have a problem with where you want to put this. I think it's completely inconsiderate of everyone that lives there. Uh you say you've done studies about how the negative impacts. I'm sure you did those same studies about Facebook. We have negative impacts. Our yards were flooded out during construction. Uh we get nothing but light pollution, noise pollution, traffic, air pollution. Uh everything Michelle McIll said I agree with. I think this is awful. Thank you.

Thank you for your opinion. Uh Dan Kenny, there's two more.

My name is Dan Kenny. I live at 303 Birchwood Lane. Um I cannot say whether I stand here in favor or against this because I don't have enough information. And I'm thinking hopefully some of you are also wondering if you have enough information. Um, I'm certainly in favor of jobs. I'm a lifetime member of a union. I'm all in favor of lower tax rates. I'm all in favor of new schools. But I'm also in favor of a lot of other things, too, that this could possibly jeopardize. So, I'm weighing these. So, one question I have, if you're keeping record of the questions, is has a natural resource inventory been done and has that report been given to the commission? Um, also, uh, we were told a few minutes ago in the presentation, uh, by the city that they're not sure how much power will be used. Why not? If they can figure out all these other things they can do, why can't they figure out exactly how much power they're going to use? Um, also has a costbenefit analysis been presented to the commission. Class benefit analysis seems to be required of almost every project and I've seen some projects that is for a townhouse take much more time to go through this commission and then this seems to be on this timeline but a costbenefit analysis in terms of we understand it's going to bring in x number of dollars of property taxes

which is great I very much in favor of the new elementary school that was built over in the Any good North neighborhood now called Uptown. However, what did we lose in that? Has anybody done an analysis of all the costs of what was lost? If so, I would like to see that. Another thing is what p I was told by Mr. um Kazinski that the company will be paying the up co up front paying some of the upfront costs for the infrastructure development that's necessary for the power lines and so on to be brought in but I was not told what percentage of that are they paying and how does that compare to what the comed customers and what the taxpayers will be paying for that infrastructure what percentage are we paying and what percentage is the company paying? Another question I have is um how many people have moved to Decalp because of Meta? We always hear about how it's going to be great for our population to increase more buildings, more homes, but where are the facts on that? All I know is the latest census showed our census for decal went down. Now, of course, that was 2020, so maybe that will go up. I hope it does. But has anybody done a study of that? Do we know how many more people have moved to Decalp since 2020?

And I'll just close with one other question. As the commission asked themselves, how long does it take for drummer soil to form? Drummer soil is the soil that's on that land. And it was on the land where Meta is now. There was no natural resource inventory done. So maybe the commission didn't know that that was drummer soil that was being moved to make a fence or to make a burm. Scrape into the way to make a burm so they could pour concrete. Or if you're not sure, it takes 10,000 years or more to form drummer soil. our lifespans are very minimal compared to that 10,000year number. So I would like to have more answers to more to these questions before I could make a decision and I hope you ask for more time before you make a decision. Thank you.

Thank you Dan. Uh Nancy Jory Thank you. My name is Nancy Doerty. I live on Fifth Avenue here in Decal. I drafted up something, but a few of the items have been so stated, so I'd kind of like to uh give you my highlights. Um the owner of the property and business that is requesting this zone change is Chicago West Business Center LLC. and I understand the company that will run this project is Endeavor Energy. I'd like to have a better understanding of the relationship and responsibilities between these two companies. Uh my understanding also is uh Endeavor Energy will be leasing to various clients. This would indicate Decal would have no input in who the data center leases or rents to. This is a concern as normally when a business requests any zoning change, we would be dealing with that applicant and would know their business. This would mean that any issue with any lease clients would not require our approval. Our relationship for any issues would be with Chicago West Business Center, Endeavor Energy. I don't know. It also appears that various sis sister cities have elected not to pursue data centers at this time due to various items that are of concern. As we have stated, they are water, electricity, power to run the center, noise, pollution, and maintenance. According to this application, the owner would use natural gas instead of water for the coolant. Where does this natural gas come from? And how much is needed to run this center in comparison to water as a coolant? I would like to see a comparison. It also appears that for

electricity comm is still is going to be significant for this project until they are up and running. Also, I was questioning patents for the items that they would be uh using for their systems. You talked about employees. My question would be how many employees will actually be at that that location? Not the construction, not the maintenance, not the builders. what will the end line be for them? Um, and our local paper used the word promise. Well, in business world, promise and handshake is not used. Contracts listing responsibilities of both parties are needed to be defined and itemized stating very specific consequences if not complied with. Noise, maintenance, pollution during and after construction needs to be itemized. Also, the energy required by whatever means is functioning for this center in any other agreed item for the benefit of Decal and its residents is listed, including no additional increases because of the needs of this business to residents. So, we're talking energy, water maintenance, and safety. Thank you.

Thank you, Nancy. Uh Jamie Walter. Good evening. Thank you. My name is Jamie Walter. I live at 16513 Lynch Road in DecalB. I'm also the uh owner and founder of Whiskey Acres Distilling Company uh which is just off the map there. Uh we're and we're our family uh the Walter family owns the farmland to the south side of Keslinger Road beginning at Creo and going for approximately one mile to the east. Okay. Um I'm here to give uh cautious support uh to this project. We certainly see the huge benefits uh in jobs, in economic development, and tax revenue to the county or to the city. Um and and we're not here to to get in the way of that whatsoever. But I am here to protect our interests and and our interest in our business uh was founded on our farming operation almost 100 years ago. So we were here long before any of this was and I can't pick up and move very well now. And so we've continued to invest in the development of this area uh putting in the distillery in 2014. We are now the number one rated tourist attraction in all of Del County. We receive over 30,000 visitors from outside the community every year. Almost 75% of our visitors travel from outside of Decalp County. Um they spend money here. They're attracted to the community. Uh we often hear that there's not a lot to do in Decal. And so this is one of the ways that that we help to build that community experience. But part of that is that there's an agricultural component to what we do. And so right now we're sitting at this nexus, this this confluence between the growth of the city, which we're which

we're not against, but also protecting our agricultural character as we continue to run our operation and continue to employ ourselves over 35 to 40 people. So we're just asking for the city to keep that in mind as we go forward. You know, I've heard a lot about and that see on the maps lots of big BMS along Route 23 in the residential areas. Some, but less so along Keslinger Road. While there may not be as many residences there, there are some. And certainly there's the ingress and egress of our patrons that come and go from this facility as well as what will be several years of construction traffic impacts, noise, even just during the construction process, let alone the eventual use of the of the property. So, we just ask that you keep that in mind and mitigating those concerns to our business and to the residents in the area. But again, thank you to Jerry, thank you to the city and Bill Nicholas and Mayor Barnes for kind of keeping us in the loop. We're not in the city and and we do thank you for keeping us a part of things and we just ask the council and or the commission and the eventual city council to do the same. Thank you.

Thank you, Jamie. Okay, if there are no other speakers, I will you may want to ask if there's any other speakers who didn't fill out a form. Oh, okay. Yes. Does any did anyone else want to speak that did not fill out a presentation form? Oh, we do have one more. I'm sorry.

Oh. Oh. Was there someone back there that would like to come forward? Hello, I'm Chris Boyce. I live at 101 Bar Boulevard and I also have the pleasure of being president of the Kelp School Board. We've been talking a lot about economic development. And I think that that is a good catchphrase to throw around, but I think it's important that we actually highlight what does that economic development mean? Because let's be honest, telling a room full of people we gave the government more money doesn't always make us feel good. So what is that more money doing for our students in Decal? Let's start with Mitchell Elementary. 450 of our students now get to go to a state-of-the-art facility where they get to get steam technology education like never before because of our project lead the way program. That is all because of the development and assistance that Meta was able to bring to our facilities. And that was a 500 acre project. This is going to be a 560 acre project, which means we can expect bigger and better things for our students. Now, let's talk about our preK students. As many of you have seen through the chronicle, the school district has just approved to start work on a new state-of-the-art early learning development center that is going to see over 360 of our youngest and most vulnerable students who need support at that stage in life be advanced to a new level so that when we get them to kindergarten, they're going to be ready for education. And that's just two of the small things. Let's also talk about our dual language program, which thanks to the assistance of these different projects that have come into town, we've been able to

launch across our elementary schools so that our students by the time they get to middle school are fluently speaking in Spanish and English, which increases their workforce capabilities as they go forward. 87%. That is where our graduation rate at the high school now is from 5 years ago when it was at 79% because we were able to support freshman on track programs in our high school thanks to this economic development. Those are just a few of the things and I can even continue to go on to tell you guys about some of the other big and amazing things going on. Let's talk about economic development for workers. We are the third largest employer in the county. Every employee within our district now makes a minimum starting wage of over $20 an hour because we were able to afford to give our employees the wages that they deserve because of this economic development. And that is money that is going back into this community. Maybe the data center has 100, 150, 200, I don't know the number of employees that are there. But think about the employees that are already here that get a higher standard of living because of this project. This is something that's going to elevate everything that we do in this community. And you know what? Yes, some of us might have a worse view because of a building that's going up, but how many of our students are going to be able to grow up and invest further in this community because of this building? You're now talking about 6,000 students a year that go through our districts that will have the best education available and the best educators available because we can afford to give them the wages they need to come and work here. So, I would encourage the planning and zoning commission to support this project so that we could continue to support our students. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We do have one last speaker. Uh, Lizzie Maldon Mald Maldon Danado Maldonado Maldonado.

Um, hi. My name is Lizzie Maldonado. I'm a neighbor, mother, and homeowner here in Decal. Um, I'm here today to urge you to reject this proposal. Um, listening to this gentleman over here, you'd think they spent years trying to build indic, just to help us out, right? Um, but it's not like they don't get anything out of this exchange, obviously. And I don't really buy the incentives that they're selling. Um, we're told that this data center will be harmless because it won't draw electricity from comet and it won't use large volumes of water. But the alternative that they're offering isn't impact free. Obviously, this massive campus will carry its own footprint and lock us into fossil fuel dependence for decades. Um, corporations like to demand that we just grow, grow, grow, but they don't bear the environmental consequences of that growth. We do here as residents. They want profit and they don't really care what it costs us. Um, Decal is a farm town. Our identity, our history, our economy are all rooted in agriculture. And once that farmland is gone, once you change the character of that land, there's no getting it back. Um, every time a corporation shows up with a glossy site plan, um, we are told that we have to hand out millions in incentives and tax abatements just to stay competitive and embrace change. But what that really means long term is that they get deep tax cuts while the rest of us make up the difference. They'll drive heavy equipment on our roads, rely on our infrastructure and emergency services, and contribute to wear and tear that the public will have to pay to fix. We already know that the the medicine center skipped out on much of its taxes for the first few years. Um, and even when they pay, they get a 45% abatement. Meanwhile, residents are seeing utility hikes and rising costs across the board. We're effectively subsidizing these companies in exchange for a handful of jobs while they extract enormous value from our community, our

land, our resources. That's corporate welfare. It's not economic development in my opinion. We don't offer those incentives to our own farmers. We don't offer those incentives to our small businesses. Our small businesses don't get 45% abatements or anything like that. Um families obviously get even less. Um and others to support responsible growth. We deserve jobs and opportunities. We deserve funding for our education. Obviously, we deserve all those things, but not by making this kind of trade on our future. This is not the future that I want for Dalb. I don't think it's the future that everyone here, most people here at least tonight, don't want. Um, I urge this commission to reject this resoning and protect our land and our community from yet another mega data center. We're already propping one up with our tax abatements and um rate hikes and other um costs. So, thank you.

Thank you very much, Lizzie. Is there anyone else that would like to speak to the matter? Um, Mr. Trevant. I'm so glad this room is packed here. My name is Mark Sharbad. I'm speaking as a citizen, but I also am a member of the Decalp school board. I agree with much of what uh Chris Boyce said earlier regarding the revenue that will be generated from this data center, but I also want to address the plan commission that I want you folks to address the questions that have been asked by the public. you are the conduit for which they are to get the answers to the information and I hope the city manager will address these before the meeting as well. There were a lot of good questions asked here and I know it's not a Q&A. Actually, a public hearing can be a Q&A. It used to go that way before, but those questions do need to be answered and I think it's only fair as public servants to answer the questions that these citizens have. There's a lot of good questions here and they need to be answered prior to the city council approving this next Monday because after you approve it next Monday it goes before the city council. So be fair to your community and get the questions answered. That's all I'm asking. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Shiovant. Anyone else? Ma'am.

Hello. I'm Mel Zimmerman. I live on at 17821 Route 23 in Decal which is currently just four houses south of Gerilla Road and we moved there what 9 years ago and we watched our landscape change with the met first meta center. We watched our nice sunrise view go away and thought okay you know what we'll live with it we enjoy our backyard our kids play back there and now this is going to be taken away from us. I keep hearing about benefits for the city benefits for the city. We're unincorporated. We're unwell. We're on septic. My children pay play part district activities, sports. I pay extra for out of district fees. I have to pay extra to come to this library cuz I'm out of district. I'm unincorporated. But now you're going to surround us with this huge data center. It's going to only like not affect us. We are one of the most affected by this. But we don't get any benefits from the city with it. I'd like you to think about that before you vote yes for this.

Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else?

Sir, my name is Fred Walker. I live at 17610 Route 23 South in Decal. I'm right in the middle of this project and I have just moved one block south. So, I'm still right in the middle of this project. Um I I'm in favor of the project. The only thing that I hear at night is the Elvis special train going by and and I see nothing of Metra or anything uh west of me. Um that's about all I have to say.

Okay. I'm in favor of the project.

Thank you for participating. Anyone else? Please step forward. My name is Charles Brown and I live uh on 1320 South Malta Road. It's not against this project or the my property is not contiguous to it, but I was very happy to hear that they're not going to use the water as a main cooling source. um meta is what using 200,000 gallons a day to cool their current uh plant. But I heard over here this this evening that if you approve this project as presented, they do not have to come back for any other approvals if they wish to change the project in terms of how they might cool their their data banks. Is that correct? Or is that going to be something that they would have to come back and ask for approval if they decide after the first building's up that they are going to use water as the cooling method for the remaining buildings?

I believe I'm sorry, Bill, do you want to address that?

Uh, yeah, Charlie, the um the annexation and development agreement is patterned after the one between the city and meta. The language is the same. uh we don't presume to go into a factory or in this case a data center and explain or or to demand how they do this or do that. Uh they there are protections in the agreement with respect to water roads and so forth. plans have to come back if they are uh for instance there would be multiple phases here and so there'll be other final plats that will be coming in and those are reviewed at the staff level and they are uh done with the same thoroughess and and intelligence that that uh we have been doing ever since the Chicago West was started. you see the the result of that which is pretty much what was promised and we've had a number of people here say this is how they said it was going to look this and this is what we're concerned about but we don't have by right or by license a way to go in and talk about uh what a machine looks how big a machine is and what what the uh use and so forth is

I understand that but you do understand that I think the community is very happy and thankful that they are going to use a cooling method that does not require vast quantities of water and tapping our our water supply. Uh but if they do change their plan because of economics or whatever for the other phases of this project and decide to go back and pro cool the the systems the same way Meta is doing it. I see. What what right will the public have to weigh in? Well, that's a city council decision.

Uh, you know, we have we have u processes through the year culminating in a budget process which looks at the water system, what our annual usage is uh and uh what our projected usage is for the coming year. Uh we we have an intimate relationship with the IEPA as you know and uh we report every day in terms of the pumpage that we do. Uh so we're a water utility. Uh we have provenence over that. Uh we don't get dictated by any company in terms of how much we will pump and when we can do it and what the parameters are for responsible uh water uh uh design and modeling. We just did a for the first time since 200 um five I think it was no excuse me 2012 uh a year and a half water modeling study and system review uh which indicated where we are with our capacity and it was it was a good uh good report card I guess you would say but it made us even more sensitive to the fact that we are part of an aqua of two aquifers a shallow and a deep aquifer that we control. It serves the region and we know what our part of that is and we're very mindful of how to deal with that responsibly. And if if people at the staff level, myself, successor people sitting here don't have that ultimately the council, mayor and council have that responsibility to the taxpayers to represent that. If I may too, there's there's a substantial difference between the annexation agreement uh or the proposed annexation agreement with uh for this data center than with the meta the meta data center. And that substantial difference relates to the meta data center had a water agreement

uh and had uh provisions for water infrastructure and that water agreement was an exhibit to the uh to the development agreement that ensured that there was certain capacity for for the meta data center that does not exist for this one and in order and the reason why it doesn't exist is because they don't need the water. Uh but if they needed the water, let me I just wanted to address your concern. If they needed the water, they would need to ask for certain uh in incentives to be had that would have to be an amendment to the annexation agreement uh as it exists. That would have to go back to the council uh and have to there would be a public hearing process. There would have to be an amendment. So there would be input there. There's also in uh just the proposed uh zoning standards, which is the reason why we're here, uh is that the final approval of the plans uh is subject to the city manager, who is of course responsive to the city council and to, you know, the residents of the city. Well, I just wanted to bring out that I think the community is certainly in favor of this project, but a large part of it is due to the fact that they're not going to be using vast quantities of water to cool the system. I mean, the Meta Meta project has a $200,000 cap, daily cap, right, that was negotiated on the on the use of water.

Happily, I can report that they have not as a rule Yeah. hit that mark. I mean, there's a lot of private wells still in this area that draw their water from that shallow and the deeper aquifier. And uh I can't imagine there's one industry in this entire county that uses 200,000 gallons of water a day. Yeah, the hospital does. The hospital uses 200,000 gallons of water. They have a well serve letter as well.

Well, we have there. So, um, but we're talking apples and oranges here, aren't we? Because there is no will serve letter in this. And because we determined that we didn't want to um as as we were starting in discussion as we've come to this point, one of the the focuses uh and one of the good things that we thought as Decal residents was that there wasn't going to be substantial water use. It's basically a closed system as as Jerry Krinski said meaning water is put into tubing and uh it is used then for for various purposes in the machinery that that create the electricity and um that is and we also have water use obviously for restrooms and the like but otherwise it's not used to sprinkle over heat exchangers to cool elements of the the heating cooling system. Well, again, this is a wonderful project. The community is going to benefit from it. And if there were a major change in the way that the system is is need to be cooled with water, I I just hope that the council, if not the commission, will give the community an opportunity to weigh in on any changes to the project that would be of that sort of magnitude that could really impact uh the rest of our our econ our our community. So,

I can go on record, Charlie, is saying as as the city attorney said, uh that's exactly what would have to happen that the agreement can't be modified without council approval. Well, I hope Bill, you and I are here when that date comes because I I do trust that that would be the case. Thank you. Um in the back, would you like to step forward? Lindo Connor. Lindo Connor. I live at 419 Gale Avenue. I'm wondering if this water ever needs to be switched out.

I don't believe it's water. It's a sealed system. Correct. A sealed system. But again, we can add that to system. We can add that. Maybe appropriate to ask the applicant to respond to the various questions and comments that Yeah. We've been making a short list of things and we're going to ask them to step forward in a moment and review some of those. Thank you. You're welcome. Anyone else? Please.

Hi, I'm Svin Brousard. I'm a student at NIU. I just wanted to take a quick moment to give voice to people here that don't want to stand up because they feel the pressure of the the barrier of entry that comes with very scientific topics like this. So if it would be amanable, I would want to have just a show of hands um of who is against this so that people here that don't have the vocabulary to say what they want to say can still show where they stand. No, I'm sorry. We can't take a survey of the audience. I mean, a 5-second hand raise.

Legally, I don't think we can. No, I mean it's not it's not a vote as it were. And this is I understand what you're asking, but this is certainly not indicative of the entire community. I appreciate that everyone's shown up, but um I think that'll be more evident when it comes to city council if it does go before them. I think that the purpose of this meeting is to hear people's voices and I think that this is a way to hear their voices when they don't have the words to explain. It is. But that's why we ask people to come forward and speak. And I appreciate you attempting to represent them, but uh as a group, we need individuals to come forward and speak their minds. So, okay. I appreciate it though. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. If there's anyone else, if not, I will close. Oh,

in the back, please. My name is Liam Stone. I've lived here for in this area my whole life. The one thing I've noticed so far about this meeting is that for the most part, the only people who are in support of this are people affiliated with business and companies around here. And most of the questions that are being asked by the people, the concerned people aren't really being answered. So they're like the main answer that everyone seems to be giving about the concerns is jobs and money for them. So the last question is like what about the soil degradation of the corn fields and the answer is jobs and money or what about the property values and the answer is jobs and money or what about environmentalism and the jobs and money. So, at the very least, I think that they need to answer some of those questions first directly rather than just jobs and money.

Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. If not, I will close the public hearing. After the hearing, you probably Let's have the applicant respond. Let's have the applicant respond to the various questions and comments. Yeah. No. Oh, sorry. Please.

Uh, my name is Brian Blea. I am a lifelong resident of uh this area. I was born and raised here. I went to Duel schools. Uh I am a current uh faculty member at one of our schools. And uh the thing I would say as a concerned citizen who will be living here for presumably the rest of my life and I sure hope that I'm able to do so um is that we're talking about how much money this is going to bring to the area and uh before all of this started coming down. No, we decided that it was not financially responsible for these companies to build these things in this area. But when financial incentives were offered for them to go here, suddenly now it makes sense for us to build these things uh around here. And the question to uh that I would offer why is it only when we're offering all these incentives, we have a tax rate that says if you're going to build these things here and have this impact on the area, you need to pay these tax rates. Well, but we really want you to be here. So you don't actually have to pay all of that money to the things that are going to be built here. And there's a reason that those things are at those rates because of the impact that it has on the residents, the infrastructure in this area. And if that is the only reason that those things are going to be built here, then we should maybe ask ourselves, do we really need to offer that? If it's going to be financially responsible for those people to build those things in this area, perhaps they should pay the full rate for those things and not have these tax incentives where their uh amounts are being evaded because they don't do that for my taxes around here and I don't think they do that for anybody else who lives in this area. So, should we all be treated the same or are some people more special than others? Okay. So, I at the very least that should be considered before we go forward with this decision to bring these things to the area. All right. if they if it's worth it for them to do it, they can pay the full rate that everybody else does as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Um do you want to bring could the representatives from Endeavor stand for step forward? I think maybe if there's any questions maybe in interest of time and efficiency the three of us can come up. Sure. Yeah. But in order for us to ask questions I have to close the hearing. Correct. Keep it keep it this way. If there's questions, we can we can guide the question to the appropriate person. Okay, sounds good.

Um, several came up and I was trying to just do a compilation and everybody else chime in if you have others. Um, one of the first factors was noise and I I know that that has been discussed, but perhaps you could explain it a little bit further as to what little impact it will have. Maybe Bill and um James can hit that both.

Uh I'll start. Uh my name is William Bone with Jacob and Hefner Associates. We authored the uh the sound study for this for this project. So basically we look at uh what what type of equipment will be present to that that emits noise, right? And there's really really three main noise sources from a data centers. Traffic uh in this case very there's very little traffic, but traffic does generate noise. uh the HVAC units that are are mounted on the roof, those generate noise and then the turbo cells generate noise. So uh we used information provided by the makers of turboell and their proprietary HVAC system. Uh plug that into our model. We use a a sound plan pro. It's a industry standard model to to model with the various turbo cells, the roof mounted uh HVAC and the traffic for all four buildings. And we compare that noise to uh really two regulations, right? City of Decal has an a noise ordinance uh has a daytime limit and has a nighttime limit. The nighttime limit is lower than the daytime daytime limit. And then the Illinois Pollution Control Board has um they kind of look at it differently. They don't just look at straight decibb. They look at nine different frequency bands because they do recognize that different frequencies affect people differently. um and they have limits for each of those uh frequency bands. So we we have to meet that. So uh we ran all that through our modeling and uh with with the proposed mitigation we have a 22t high sound wall around all the turbo cells uh a parapit uh on top on top of the roof and then on top of the parapit an acoustical wall that will fully enclose the HVAC system uh which will further you know reduce the the noise level. So, uh, based on our model, we we, uh, are well below on the decal for both daytime and nighttime and also below on all the different frequency bands for, uh, Illinois Pollution Control Board.

Okay. Thank you very much. I would like to just add to that in the very beginning of our presentation, we learned several things from META. I said there were a lot of similarities and there were things that we were changing and this is one of the items that we're specifically changing to improve the development. Thank you, Jerry. Um, the cooling systems, um, I think if those were explained a little more thoroughly, um, perhaps there wouldn't be as many much concern about it.

Okay. Um, sure. So, my name is James Vzy. I'm with Endeavor. Um, just for a little bit of background on Endeavor, just so it makes sense with Endeavor Edged. Endeavor is a purpose-built trust. Um we invest and invent breakthrough technologies and then we build the companies that scale those to market. Um we have a data center platform but unlike other data center platforms we actually own the IP and build the systems that go into our data centers. So we're not beholden to what comes off the shelf from the usual vendors and we have a very heavy focus on sustainability within our business. Now we we talked a little bit about some of the other systems or people have talked about some of the systems but one of the first systems that we built and brought to market was thermal works. The most effective and cheapest way to cool heat generated by servers in a data center is by the direct evaporation of water. That is why traditionally hyperscalers have evaporated significant amounts of water to to cool their equipment because water is cheaper than uh electrons. We took a belief that that was unsustainable and not viable for the industry in in the long term. So in the face of all the largest technology companies on the c in in the country building these water-based direct evaporative systems, we spent our own R&D dollars to build a closed loop system that delivered the same efficiencies as those direct evaporative solutions but without needing to evaporate any water. So the system is charged once on day one and then that same water is retained in a closed loop system and so that system is completely self-contained. It's not it you know any sort of leakage from that system would be really

detrimental to the efficiency. So it is designed to be a 20-year closed loop system. So we don't need any more water. that is in stark contrast to how the vast majority of data centers that you read about in the space are cooling um their equipment. Um but the one of the key things we wanted to do is not have any trade-off in efficiency because the tradeoff of um of changing your cooling system is that you need more energy to cool the same equipment. So in the industry there is a metric called PUE which is power utilization effectiveness. It is from the total energy, the total power coming in the building. How much of that is actually being used to power compute workloads and how much of that is being used as overhead to cool the compute workloads. A perfect pee would be one point would be one, right? Traditionally, you had direct evaporative solutions at like 1.2 2 1.15 and any waterless systems going back 5 years because this is not a new invention. We have just optimized it were at 1.5. So it meant that you were having to draw more power to actually fulfill the same compute load. Our systems run at a max pee of 1.15 and an average pee of 1.08. So they are extremely efficient. Nearly all the power coming into that building is going to serve the compute load. added benefit. We are not having to evaporate large sums of uh water in order to achieve that.

Thank you very much. Um sightelines also came into play at some point um I think for some of the residents. Could you bring up just some of the the elevation views? Would any of you like to just talk about what the potential sight line is? I mean, again, I think that's an aesthetic thing, but I I think it's minimized by the retention or the deafening wall, right?

You know, th this is near and dear to my heart, and as much as I appreciate and respect Meta's uh Burm along 23 and Fair View, unfortunately, it is just a straight BM. Correct. And it's in my opinion it it does screen the development but it's a little bit um rigid. So if you were to go to our concept plan you'll see that the burming that we're doing is undulating and it's an irregular shape. I am very sensitive to the perception and look around here. That's one of the ways to do that is make this burming at various heights and make it undulating and so that the footprint also uh is not just this primarily rectangular configuration and we can supplement that with landscaping and some other things. So, uh, we have the line of sight drawings in the eight different studies that we completed, um, that really address the varying heist with that as well.

Okay. Thank you. Does that does that include the I think it was Melissa had an issue. Yeah. And again that is a you know if there are some areas that we can be more sensitive to with a combination of landscaping burming um and even adjusting these detention ponds. Let's face it this is not the final engineering but if there are some ways where we can reconfigure the pond a little bit to create some more green space we want to we want to do that. Um, but I think this was a very good first attempt to try to um, you know, capture what our ultimate goal is. Thank you. Other questions?

Oh, um, someone did ask a question earlier. I'm sorry. Um what would be once the building is constructed, what would be the the total employment by the time the all four all phases are completed? Unfortunately, Elda had to leave. She had to uh she's trying to uh uh catch a flight um and she's on her way back to O'Hare. But I did I did question Elda uh before she departed. The first building will be approximately 100 full-time employees. I can't speak for the following buildings. I don't know if James, you have a little bit of insight.

Yeah, the buildings there are in a sort of standard deployment format. So they would scale linearly. So you're looking at 100 per per build. So as we go through the phase, you'd have another 100 jobs. Okay. Thank you. I'm sorry, sir. Did you did you want to speak? Yeah, I had a question. We have building all these buildings and I live right next to it on Gorilla Road and we have a water problem as far as flooding and where's all the drain water going to go on the roofs and parking lots roads? Correct me if I retention ponds, isn't it? Yeah, that's what they're

Yeah, that's right. So, you see all the all the blue areas on the uh on the plan. We have extensive storm water detention throughout every phase of the project. Uh anywhere where the existing farm field has low-lying areas that pond water now during large storm events, we call that depressional storage. So uh we actually replace that in or compensate that lost volume when we grade the site in the pond. So we we we uh we take that depressional storage and and add it to the detention volume that we're already providing. Uh, so we're kind of going above and beyond to make sure we're, you know, solving any existing drainage issues and certainly not causing any future ones. Thank you very much. Additional questions.

Oh, yeah. One other item uh that Jerry reminded me, we're doing an existing drain tile survey of the farm fields. So, that'll give us an idea of where the farmer had put all drain tiles throughout the year. So, we'll make sure that any drain tiles that are uh needing to function beyond, you know, when we develop, we'll tie those into our storm water management system so they they function properly. Mr. Chairman, uh he was making reference to the fact that there is a drainage district uh which is about as old as the townships in Illinois and uh there are a number of drainage districts in our region and there is one in particular that has perview over this area and Mr. Bone and his team are in contact.

Good to know. Thank you for the drain towels. That's one of the things but not the only thing that drainage district deals with. Okay. Are are there any u incentives for um um the schools the connect you know the gentleman talked in the back about how that had given to some uh opportunities at the schools. Is there any connection here or is that something that's happening later? I think that was based on the tax base.

Res what he Mr. Boy was referring to I believe is that u in the last three years 32 plus million dollars have gone to the school district in taxes from one place that is meta and that has been used basically to pay in cash for that new elementary school on in the north west corner of our community. Can I ask another question? Yes. Just state your name again, please.

Shirley Ble, Ger Road. I still have a question about the noise because because it may be a lowlevel noise. Will we hear it? That's what I want to know. I've because I've read about other c other um data centers where people can hear that 24/7. Even if it's a dog barking and that's a low level, if you hear it 24/7, it's going to drive you nuts. So, I want to know with these additional sound barriers, will we hear it?

Yeah, I think the answer is depending on where where you live and how close you are to the facilities. Um, I think the bottom line is the city decal has a noise ordinance uh that that's been around for quite some time to protect the public. Uh, we are required to meet those noise limits at our property line. Um, and we have a study that that demonstrates that we do meet those noise uh limits uh above and beyond the city decal. As I mentioned previously, the Illinois Pollution Control Board looks into the different frequency levels. Um what we hear uh you know on other data centers is the lower frequency is is what's driving everybody nuts. Um and there are the Illinois Pollution Control Board has limits for those those lower uh the lower frequency range. So we're meeting all those requirements.

Thank you.

Oh um I'm sorry. Please could you step forward? Sorry. Keith Bespinghoff. I remembered my name. Um, I didn't have as many questions as I as I have now. So, one thing I'd like to ask is your system for for cooling. It just sounds to me like you're doing the same thing my car does. What cools the liquid going through? What it goes? Does it go through a a radiator?

So, you're going to have to Yeah, this may not be a short answer. So, um the way the cooling works, it depends on the ambient temperature of the air outside. So, we have um uh free cooling coils built into our cooling system. So, it will come back into a chiller. It will expel any heat it can with a with a delta to the outside ambient air. Um, so you mean the coolant runs outside first into cooler air and then comes back in? No, the the water in the clos loop system runs through these microch coils.

So, it's still running internally within the microch coils. they're just exposed to the external ambient air temperature. So on a day like today, you know, all of the heat that's generated within the system would be rejected into the atmosphere because the outside air would be cooling that water that's running through. In very hot days in the summer, we have a mechanical assist. So we use a compressor and that has two refrigerant loops within the chiller and we run the water in series through those and those refrigerant loops bring that water back down to set point to go back into the data center and cool the equipment. So at that point you're still using electricity.

Yes. I mean at any point you're using a degree of electricity because you're using pumps to pump the system. We in order to drive down our efficiency are looking to minimize electricity use wherever possible. So when I talked about the pees, we're only able to achieve these ultra low pees because at every point in the system where you could use electricity, we are we are doing as much as we can not to use that to ensure that all the electricity coming coming into the facility is really going into generating you know compute output versus cooling the equipment. Okay. But it's not non-elect electrical. You're still using No. Yeah. We still need electric in the cooling system.

Correct. As in any cooling system. Even in a just to be clear, even in a water-based direct evaporative system, you would still be using electricity. Well, I I'm sure that I'm just not sure that everybody here understood that your system was was

Yes. So the the the electricity component is is that when I was explaining about pee and you can go away and look up pee and it'll give a much sort of more eloquent explanation than I'm giving here. There's some nice YouTube videos on it. But if you um the the pew of a data center is extremely important because it shows how efficiently it's using the energy that's coming into the facility. And so the closer you are to one, the more effective you're using that. Um, a lot of data centers, if you look at the industry average outside of hypers scale data centers, you know, that's 1.5, 1.6. A lot of the hyperscalers, they're sort of closer to 1.2. And we're sort of all the way down um really targeting a design pee of 1.08 and a max pee of 115.

Okay. Thank you for your Thank you both. Any other questions, comments from the commission? I got one more. Years ago when meta was Sorry, just for the record, if you'd state your name one more time. Ben Roers. Thank you. Years ago when we guys were pro uh pro getting Meta to come in, you said nothing would move past 23 going west, right? Do you remember saying that? I don't. No.

All right. Well, I very distinctly remember it. So, I guess where does it stop? Like where do these data centers stop? Are we going to keep inviting them into town until they're just in our backyards? I mean, we have a bunch of like unoccupied factories that could be demolished and this could go in town like off Peace Road or somewhere, but why are they going to be in our backyards? Why? What's the point? We've shown them or designate our industrial areas, which I showed the comp plan for future industrial development, including data centers. So, uh, there's vacant land shown as industrial uses. Data centers would be welcome in that particular location. All right. Anyone else?

Looking for new information, I think, at this point. Uh, do you have new questions? Uh no, but I did want to reiterate the ones that I had just because I feel they do need to be addressed. Um because you know we had a small list of things but in the literature it was made reference to this facility is hydrogen compatible from day one and I'd also like an explanation on the as it was referred to innovative uh methane pyrolysis if you mind.

Yes. So the the way it's hydrogen compatible is that the the turboell system can run on hydrogen directly. So in order to make that real and as part of our um commitment to a sustainability, we've also invested very heavily in technologies that will make it possible to generate hydrogen at a cost effective level because then you know what we're creating when we combust that the byproduct is water. So the paralysis technique is we use catalytic cracking. We take methane out of natural gas. We crack that into hydrogen and then solid carbon. We then sequester that solid carbon which is a byproduct of that catalytic reaction and the hydrogen gets fed into the turboell system. So at that point the the hydrogen um then enables turboell to act as carbon neutral base load power.

Okay. Thank you. Um by the way I just want to applaud all the efforts that you've made to make this as eco-friendly as possible. I mean the technology is amazing in and of itself but the thought that went behind it is impressive. Thank you. Any other questions coming? No, yeah, I I do. I um I had a couple of questions. So, the turbo cells

um kind of how I understood it was that they're temporary until the combed stuff is online. Is is that how I should have understood it? Yeah, the turboell system acts as what we would term bridging power. So um in before utility is available we have distributed on-site generation that can act as prime load power to the data center. Okay

from that point onwards um you can use that on-site distribution to do things like participate and demand response. Um the benefit of having on-site um generation is traditionally data centers have simply just used tier 2 uh diesels.

Mhm. So, the thing with tier 2 diesels is they're dirty. You you can only get permits to use them in emergencies. So, you've got all this on-site generation, megawatts and megawatts of generation that can only be used in an emergency. With these systems, because they are able to be utilized for micro grid hours, you can actually once you're finished bridging rather than just hand over to the utility and now you're at the mercy of the utility, you can retain those on-site um distributed generation assets. And what you can now do is participate in demand response. So what that means is um utilities a lot of what's rising costs in utilities is utilities always have to balance supply and demand. And in order to balance supply and demand they need to make sure they've got enough generation to deal with the worst days of the year. So the coldest nights in the middle of February, the hottest days in the middle of July. That is generation capacity that they cannot utilize or monetize for most of the year. So um by having a data center that's able to participate in demand response what we can say to that utility is hey you've got all this generation capacity that you can't use or monetize we will give you an off ticker for that capacity and when you need that capacity to actually satisfy peak for your residential clients in the hottest days of summer or the coldest days of winter we will jump off the grid and we'll use our own distribution assets. So that now allows them to monetize um otherwise um sort of withheld generation assets which should actually make it far more competitive market dynamics for for electric vehicles.

Okay. Um uh one other question kind of related to that was okay so once um the KMED stuff is online and everything how is that going to change the um the noise uh situation around that because it's going to be different equipment um working to an extent I mean the cooling systems going to be the same it's just that energy Yeah. So the the turbo cell systems would then only run if you're using utility as primary when you opted not to be running on primary utility.

So uh percentage idea of what the diminishment of noise to that or is it kind of I don't have a percentage but it's significant. Okay. Yeah. So, so there is a possibility once everything's online that the after the um the bridge period or is what we're going to call it from the turboell 100% of the time to come. It could be a diminishment of sound. It will it will certainly be a dimishment.

Okay. I just wanted to make sure I understood that. Um let's see. Anybody else got questions? I We're not We're not guinea pigs here, right? I mean, you have these data centers running elsewhere at this point.

Yeah, correct. We've got um right now we've got um 13 data centers globally. um the technology that we are talking about um when you're building at the scale that we build in some of these markets um a gigawatt of data center capacity is a multi multi-billion dollar investment for a tech company. They don't write those checks lightly. They employ armies and armies of very smart people whose job it is to do diligence and make sure these things are going to work as advertised. So, um, this most certainly isn't sort of new or experimental. Um, these things have been, uh, tested rigorously and also been signed off on, uh, by some of the sort of smartest, most rigorous engineers, um, on the planet. So,

at some point, I do need to close the public hearing. Correct. Yeah. If you're ready permission to uh, discuss and deliberate. Okay. I just didn't want to. Um, and if there's nobody else that would like to speak to them, we'll close the public hearing and again open it up to the commission.

We've had a lot of discussion on this. Um, I think it sounds like a great opportunity for Decal. I know that there's some opposition in the room, but all things considered, I think that this is an excellent opportunity. And I appreciate uh Mr. Krosinski and the company for coming to answer our questions. and I appreciate the company's in the community's input on this, but I'm ready to my questions have been answered. As a commissioner, um I would agree. I think you've done a great job of presentation. I appreciate everyone coming out and obviously we you know we like want to have your voices heard. Um but all my questions have been answered. Anyone else?

Um I still have concerns. Um most of my concerns are really uh issues that are better handled with uh council and their broader um view on this matter. I mean our our say on this kind of stuff is rather um focused on you know uh the stuff like you know do we want to annex this parcel into the city? I I don't see any reason to not annex this parcel. Um we've had many years of discussions over different kinds of devel you know um proposed zoning looking at different bubbles in the community, what what is best used in different areas and and this is following all those many years of of um of plans. But I, you know, I do have real concerns about um sound um any kinds of um envir environmental impact. And I think those are questions that that need to be asked. They've been brought up and they need to be these these conversations need to be continued um not only here but with council and everybody's um representatives there because they they really deal with all of the constituents rather than just um

annexation just annexation and and resoning. um on face value there's there's you know there's definitely some the potential for some really great things for us but I I still have you know real concerns and reservations um about all those things.

Okay, thanks Trixs. Anybody else? For those that are here and we didn't answer all the questions because I know there's still a lot of unanswered, I would go to council. Our hands are um our our role here is just for the annexation part. Um so I I strongly advise you if that's what your concern is because we're not ignoring you. We just can only do so much here. Our mandate is to make sure that it fits the plan. Yeah. the reszoning the findings of fact uh development plan if it should be reszoned to PDI um development standards that's kind of the scope as discussed with the commission. Yeah.

And with the sample motion if somebody makes that if they want to add Mr. Burns additional language which you're all handed. Uh you should note that at the end of the mo sample motion that's your wishes. Uh you can just say subject to the following language for the conservation area and then the language that Mr. Burns provided is kind of that should be included in the motion if you're agreeable to that. Yes.

Okay. If that is the case, I will ask for a motion to approve with the addendum. I can make a motion. Based upon the submitted petitions and testimony presented, I move that the planning and zoning commission forward its findings of fact and recommend that the city council approval of the reszoning upon annexation from the SFR1 single family residential district to the PDI, Planned Development Industrial District for the subject property located on a 560 acre site along the east and west sides of State Route 23 north of Keslinger Road and west of Crico Road for the construction of a multi-phase data center development for edged including a total of four data center campus buildings and two electrical substations. Approval also includes the development plans, building elevations, and final plat as listed in exhibit A and the subject to the planned development standards listed in exhibit B. And also that the provision that this paragraph which was on page 13 of the provision of this paragraph cannot be amended on any or present or future plans as submitted by Mr. Burns.

So moved by McMahon. May I have a second? Second. I'm sorry. Who? Go ahead. Tom. I second. Second by Felon. Have a roll call, please. Fellow. Yes. Oleity. Yes. You need Graham? Yes. Right. Yes. McMahon. Yes. Chair Maxwell. Yes. Motion passes. Thank you very much. Take five quick few minutes. recess.

Yeah. Two more. actually read generator. Those are pretty amazing. Quantum computing will come up by none of these things. You'll be doing something. You'll be doing the size of the table.

Can we take a fivem minute recess? Could I call Olivia? Could I call a recess for five minutes, please? Could I call a recess for five minutes? Thank you. I make a motion for us to have a brief recess. Could I have a motion to recess for 5 minutes? So moved. So moved by Flity. Seconded. I second. Seconded by Pier Graham. All in favor say I. I.

Thanks. So move by right.

I'll second by McMahon. All in favor say I. I. All post same sign. The second item on our agenda tonight. This won't last as long. One moment, chair. Sorry. Didn't I say three hours? There we go. Okay. Second motion on our or the second uh All right.

item of business is a public hearing of petition by the city of Cal for text amendments chapter 23 unified development ordinance UDO of the municipal code to prop to the proposed amendments are to article 5.04 MRF1 multif family residential district and article 5.05 05 MRF MFR2 multifamily residential district of the UDO to add lodging to add lodging house to the list of special land uses in both districts.

Yes. Uh you have a staff report for the text amendment. This relates to the next hearing which is a request for a put a youth shelter in a location um College Avenue. But we have to amend the UDO first or propose that for a lodging house. basically as a shelter. Uh it's a dwelling unit with sleeping accommodations and or meals up to not more than 20 persons seeking shelter on a temporary basis for indefinite periods of time and open to the public in transients. So that's a lodging house or a um shelter. Hope Haven is a lodging house determined to be that. So the text amendments are to add that use lodging house as a special use in the multif family districts. MFR1, MFR2, both of those. So, uh there is some findings of fact we look at for text amendments uh consistent with the comp plan. It certainly is. It's not against it. Uh does it meet the purpose of the multif family districts and we believe it does as a special use. Uh the multif family, you have other uses somewhat similar like small and large community residences uh or that which are uh residences for dis people with disabilities. So it's somewhat related to that. We also have group homes as a special use in the multif family district and the group home is for as an alternate location for people incarcerated uh that were in prison and the criminal offense. So that's a special use. We felt that this use would be fitting for special use in those two districts too. So we think it meets the findings of fact and there's an exhibit A that adds lodging house as a special use in those two districts. We recommend approval.

Okay. Is there anyone that would like to speak to this? Um

please step forward. Probably speak on the next Paul which talks about the specific location. Oh, this is just amending the ordinance to add that use in the district. So you probably want to speak at the next hearing, right? Yeah. Thank you. Okay. If not, I'll close the public hearing and open it up to comments and questions from the commission.

I only had um one question about it. Um so if if somebody wanted to uh um turn their multifamily like a rooming house into a shelter or something like that, would that still come before planning and zoning? It's just we're just doing that and every time there would be a um a a use like this, it would still come. Yeah. Any lodging house proposed, it would have to go through special use process, public hearing, notification to neighbors. Yeah. Okay. It just allows them to look in that area. Correct. Right. And that we don't It just allows them to look in that area. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Just making sure.

Yep. All right. Any comments, questions? If not, I'll ask for a motion to approve. I'll make the motion. So, move by right. I have a second. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Guess I want to get out of here worse than I thought.

Based upon the submitted petition, testimony presented and finding fact. I move that the planning and zoning commission forward its finding effect and recommend to the city council approval of special use permit for lodging house at um 220 College Avenue subject to the following conditions. One, no more than 16 youth ages 14. This we're doing the text amendment, not the special use. That one.

I got that one. All right. Staff recommends approval. This one, based upon the submitted petition and testimony presented, I move that the planning and zoning commission recommend to the city uh council approval of text amendments to the unified uh development ordinance regarding lodging houses as indicated in exhibit A. So move by right. I have a second. I second. Second by Flarity. May I have a roll call, please? Bellabach, yes. Of Graham, yes. Rice, yes. McMahon, yes. Maxwell, yes.

Motion passes. Thank you very much. Okay. The third item tonight, uh, public hearing a petition by Family Service Agency of Decal County, Inc. for a special use permit for a lodging house for the property located at 220 College Avenue. We have a staff report. Oh, we have a presentation. applicant. Yeah. Oh, please.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Tanisha. I'm the executive director of Family Service Agency. So, I'm here tonight um to ask for your approval of um a special use permit so that we can utilize uh the property at 220 uh College Avenue as a youth emergency shelter. So, a little bit about a youth emergency shelter. um a shelter. The shelter's primary purpose um is to offer a secure, stable, and nurturing environment for young people who lack consistent housing. These youth are ages 14 to 18. And when I say 18, I mean their 18th birthday, so 14 to 17. Um and our goal is to address their immediate needs for safety, food, and shelter. Uh while providing resources to support long-term stability, education, and self-sufficiency. Our mission is to empower youth to overcome challenges related to homelessness and help them build pathways towards productive independent lives. Um this facility would have 16 beds. Um it would be supervised 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by awake staff. Um we proposed our goal is to have three staff members uh by statute or by rules and regulations of DCFS and others. Um it is two minimum but we we really think it's important for us to have three. In addition to that we will have clinicians on staff um so licensed clin licensed clinic licensed clinical social workers or licensed clinical therapist um to provide ongoing support and case management to these youth. Um the average stay of youth is 21 days. So this isn't a long-term um housing group home. This is a temporary emergency shelter. Youth can stay for up to 120 days under special circumstances, but again the average stay is 21 days um under our licensing um that we would be receiving through

the department of child children and family services. Um in addition to the overnight accommodations, we would provide meal meals, snacks, hygiene, laundry facilities, um case management, individualized support plans, counseling and mental health that I spoke of, um educational supports and linkages to schools, um life skill training that to to us that is critical. I mean, obviously mental health is incredibly important, but teaching these youth how to become adults is is our one of our primary goals. um and and so that they are productive members of society when they turn 18. Um we will uh again as I said operate this 247 by very trained staff. Um there will in addition to the staff on site there are directors, case managers and counselors that will rotate in and out of the site. Um, see, the whole point um of this is to reduce risks associated with street homelessness such as victimization, exploitation, and interrupted education. Since July 1st of this year, we have we run a um runaway lockout program. Every county in um the United States has a what is called a comprehensive community-based youth services. And what we do is we respond 24 hours a day, seven days a week to youth who have either been locked out of their home or have run away from home. Since July 1, we have had 16 of those youth.

Um, majority of those, I will say about 70 to 75% of those are parents refusing to let their kids come home, more so than runaways. So the purpose of this shelter would be to house those children on a temporary basis while we work with the families and the youth to resolve whatever conflicts may be going on and provide those ongoing services. Currently those youth are being taken to Rockford or Shamberg or another area in the suburbs for housing, meaning they can't attend school. um they don't have the resources and support that we could provide them here because they're being taken significantly out of county, not just over the county line. Um so by providing the shelter here, we would be able to meet those needs of those youth. I know that there has been a couple questions um throughout the neighborhood um and I'd like to address some of those. Um hopefully I can address most of those, but if there are more, I I certainly welcome them. Um, let me just go through here. Sorry. Um, I talked about the staff. Um, as far as local residency and school enrollment, that was one of the big questions we had about school enrollment and the cost for schooling. Um, our shelter prioritiz will prioritize education. Residents will attend their home school districts whenever possible and appropriate. So, this isn't um bringing kids into a city decel shelter and 21 days, 120 days, we're not going to pull them out of Sycamore or Janoa or Sandwich or whatever neighboring school they may be going to and put them into Kelp. They we will be providing transportation to their homeschool district. In addition to that, if they're not enrolled in school, we will be working to get them back enrolled in school, whether that's through KEC or another alternative school program, um homeschooling, any other opportunities we can provide there. There is also the McKenna Vento homeless program within the schools within um the

Decal County uh school districts. So, if you're not familiar with that, that is federally funded, primarily focused on homeless youth, and that helps fund schooling for homeless youth. So, we'll be partnering with McKenna Vento as well. Um, as far as the facility itself, uh, the reason we chose this facility in particular, um, is we actually had toured this facility because we are working on, uh, we're also going to be doing transitional housing for youth that are 18 to 24 year old. And we had actually originally toured this house um, as a potential apartment, uh, rent rental for those 18 to 24 year olds. But having gone into the house and the fact that it had previously been um Discovery House for Ben Gordon Center Northwestern Medicine, it had everything that we needed to meet the requirements of the shelter, the fire system, the sprinkler system, the emergency exits, all of those things that we would have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars putting into a facility were we to use utilize a different facility. So that is why this facility is ideal for us. Um it is also very central to food, schools, bus routes, things that you know we will be utilizing again with the youth. We will have uh full security systems. There will be cameras inside and outside the home as I mentioned um fully staffed. I'm going to keep saying that over and over again because there's a big difference between having staff around and having people that are awake all night long monitoring these kids cuz how many parents stay awake all night and watch their kids? We can't do that. It's a little ridiculous. Um but that is that's what we will be doing. Um in addition to that, um couple other questions that I just want to answer. Uh parking uh residents, so youth will not be permitted to have vehicles on site. So parking is not an issue. We will have three staff on site at all times. So again, the parking is adequate for our

staffing. Uh we will our hope is to minimize any impact on off on street parking. Obviously, if I come down and doing a check-in, I'm going to be a fourth person down there. So there would be, you know, some needs there, but again, we do have appropriate parking. Um as I said, uh we have all the security systems in place. Uh Discovery House had all of the fire sprinkler systems, all of that. We did have to move um and relocate some emergency exits and some pole stations um to ensure that they weren't in a bedroom. Um because if you're familiar with all those rules, there's a lot of rules and regulations on where emergency exits and pole stations can be. Uh we are having to construct a three-story um emergency uh staircase exit from the third floor that goes down to the second floor down to the ground. Um that is in process um of being constructed. A couple other things. Um, there were some questions on property tax, property value taxes and neighborhood stability. Um, and I just wanted to address those. That studies show that well-managed shelters do not negatively impact poverty property values when operated with a strong oversight and community engagement. The shelter's mission is to foster stability and re resilience, not chaos. Staff are trained in trauma-informed care and crisis intervention. Noise and disruption will be minimized through supervision. structured activities and clear behavioral expectations. In addition to that, family service agency's been around providing services since 1956. I don't think we've made the front page of the Chronicle for anything negative and I don't intend to. So, um, we, you know, are really serious about this and serious about helping these youth and overcoming challenges. That's really, um, as I said before, um, we're looking at 16 beds. Does that mean we're going to have 16 kids there all the time? Absolutely not. Um, but if we

have the need to, we can. Um, and again, 21 days is the average stay, 120 is the max stay. So, thank you for your consideration tonight. Staff report.

Yes. Uh, very briefly, Tanisha went through everything, explained the operation. Um, so, uh, we just did a text amendment. So, it's a special use permit, uh, for lodging house. Um the council did approve a amendment to the community development block grant fund to allocate 50,000 for this facility. Not at a particular location just for a facility as described. So uh they will have to comply with the rooming house regulations too. That's one of the conditions and they were at a max of 16 beds as Denanisha mentioned. Um parking will be provided on the site. There are three spaces behind the building. There's going to be a max of three spaces. None of the youth will be driving there. They'll be transported there. So, there is adequate room. They also have to do some little striping uh to get that more defined. There is on street parking allow with permit. And as you can see, there's a lot line here. There's some parking on the neighbor to the north and there is an agreement with shared parking between the two. some evidence of that I did find but not

well the applicant can address it. Okay. I own that property and I've never retail share my Okay. Well, they do have three parking on their uh site meeting the parking requirement on their own property. Yes. And you do access your site through their lot. So, I don't know if there's an agreement on that there. If you look at the deeds for the property, um, back in the 20s, a long ledge of property was sold to the 220 house. So, the property new property line goes right down the middle of the driveway and we have a must share clause for 4T of their property and four feet of my property, right? Share a driveway.

Share a drive. Okay. So they have access you have access through their uh part of their lot to get to the your parking area through my right to share that.

So there is three parking spaces on the lot. So they do meet the parking requirement I guess is the point to that. Um they mentioned uh the staff will always be three or minimum of two. They try and get three most of the time. A little history. In 1998, a special use permit was approved by the city to allow rooming house for the Ben Gordon Center. Uh, and it was called the Ben Gordon Center Discovery House. And they were there for many years. Uh, it was sold from Ben Gordon to Northwestern in 2015. Facility closed, I understand, in March of this year, and the property was sold in May of this year to the current owner. Uh, Family Service Agency will be leasing this site for three years as initial. Is that correct? uh for uh the site and um the findings of fact for the uh special use uh we believe are met uh they're provided in the staff report. Also noted too as Tanisha mentioned the building has a fire alarm system and is sprinkled. So and uh they'll have to meet the rooming house license which deals with capacity. So they may be licensed at 16 that's the max here but if uh Ben Gorder had 13 uh so they may not get 16. It's all depends on the square footage and the occupants in each room. So, it may be 15 or 14, but uh they will have to meet those requirements. Public comments. Uh we did receive after the posting of the agenda from Scott Golden 234 Lynen Place. It's right across street here. Uh noting some objection and questions regarding the property. Tanisha went through most of them. Uh he noted concerns about safety of the facility. Uh there's no concerns by our police department or community services coordinator regarding that. Uh he indicated that he thought it was a group home which has a minimum square footage

which it does. It's not a group home. It's a lodging house. Um a group home is a location for convicted criminals alternate uh location. So this is not a group home. Uh they'll have to comply with the rooming house regulations regarding capacity. The building code will have to be met. Uh and um there's no evidence it'll bring down property values. Um mentioned property taxes. Those are city only has a low part of that. It's controlled more by the uh how the property is assessed and won't create any safety or noise problems in the neighborhood. And again, I think the big key is the reputation of family service agency since 1956 has been in the community. So they run a very clean, great operation, whatever they do. So uh we'd recommend approval. There's there's a sample motion provided uh recommending that with the conditions noted in the report. Uh again the uh maximum capacity comply with the um the regulations in chapter 14 for rooming houses uh at least two staff members 24 hours a day. also uh which was a condition the Bend Gordon Center special use number four that if family service agency leaves for a different le comes in this becomes void special use permit Ben Gordon center that happened they had a provision like that so once they left special use went away or if they do purchase a property uh the the special use is still valid if family service agency but if there's a different use comes in there or some other agency they have start over.

Thank you, Dan. Thank you. Um, I did have a request form that she noted on here. Oh, I did. Sorry. I did was handed regarding public comments. Uh, Nancy Dhy, this is provided. I think she handed around the room earlier. Did you get one, too? She indicated uh support for this request and that the city of Dalist in any way for you. So, I have a copy of that.

Does anyone else would like to speak to this matter? You would like to step forward, sir? I'm I'm Paul Meyer, College Avenue in Decalp, just around the corner from this uh proposed uh housing. And um in the last 10 minutes, I got most all my questions answered. I do have one or two remaining. Uh, will this property go off the tax roles? I know it probably wasn't on when Northwestern held it.

Now, this is not owned by Family Service, correct? No. No, they're leasing. So, yeah, they're paying property tax. It won't go off the rolls. Okay. And, um, I had another question on the special special use. You answered that just a moment ago. Thank you. And uh the is there a regulation on the footage per person square foot? House there's a based on the size of the bedroom and the number of occupants. Uhhuh. There's a calculation done to see how many could occupy a particular bedroom based on size. So

Okay. Uh so that's all that's already in place. Um, thank you. You uh did a fine job telling us what what uh all we're you're going to do. I appreciate that. And I know the rest of the neighborhood that's paying attention to it will also. And with the rooming house, there's an annual inspection done by inspectors each year. Rooming houses, I would assume it'd be the same as a rooming house. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Annual inspections. Okay. Uh, one thing I would like to see is is perhaps the density of it lowered a little bit to maybe when Ben Gordon had it. That I think

that'll be determined by the calculation, the square footage, number of occupants. Yeah, that will dictate that. So, it's within the guidelines then. Well, they'll they'll have to submit a floor plan layout and determine how many occupants there will be. So, no more than 16. It could be 15 or 14, but that would determine by the floor. There was a ceiling on that was there 20 16 16 Okay for state law. Yeah. Okay. No, I'm uh that's all I have. Uh thank you for your time. Thank you for coming in there. Any other comments or questions?

If you'd like to step forward to the mic, please state your name. Okay. My name is Randy Stillson. I own the property next that I share the driveway with. And um I'm looking at that red outline and that red outline is wrong because uh it's way too far. It's showing like the apron going out to the street from the driveway is totally on their property. It's not. Well, the property linear area is not always set exactly right.

Yeah. But the my only concern is when Ben Gordon was there um I had a couple of problems, but they were resolved very well um with occasional parking in my parking spots and and block. The biggest problem was blocking the driveway where someone would just pull in, stop in the driveway just to run in the house for a few minutes and they'd be there for an hour and I couldn't I couldn't leave because, you know, and then I got kind of dirty looks when I'd knock on their door and say, "I need to get out, you know." So, that was one of the issues that I had. Um, and so now I already talked to you about that because when I saw you out there, we walked out and and discussed the the parking situation and such. And um, now when it comes to snow removal, I wanted to split the cost with you on having that done. And you said, "No, don't worry about it. We're going to take care of it." Well, whoever it is you had plow plowed one of my uh uh parking stops out into the parkway. It's sitting in the parkway now. And um and he knocked another one loose and and whatever, but so I I need to either talk to him or something to to arrange how that how the plowing is going to be done. But that was one of the reasons why I wanted to pay part of the part of the plowing, you know, 50/50 or whatever it is, so that I would have some say in how it gets plowed. Um, but as long as I have a phone number to call and as long as there's somebody is in the house because that's my concern since um I do live alone and you know it's a big house and I'm and I still work full-time. I work for the school district. I took some time off tonight to in order to come here and because I normally work second shift so there's nobody in my house you know in the you know from 2 o'clock to 11 o'clock and that's always been a

concern of mine. I do have cameras all around my house and stuff, so I do see, you know, people wandering around on my property, but um so far I've been lucky. Nothing's ever happened. Um and I was just I just hope nothing does happen because I don't know what the uh situation is with these kids that'll be coming in. Um you know, I was I was one of the questions you answered for me was they're not going to be having cars. So that was one of my concerns that they would just now will they allow lot will they be having friends come see them or visit? Do I answer? You can up to the microphone please.

Thank you. Uh so as far as visitors go, we do have visitor policies. There are specific times um and things along those lines. There will have to be uh rules and regulations for any visitors. Uh when you think about visitors though, you're going to think more along the lines of parents um and family members. So that would all be arranged um ahead of time and with our staff and compliance with not only um any guidelines through the rooming and lodging house, but also we have to comply with DCFS's uh rule 140, I believe, um licensing standards in regards to youth emergency shelters and what we can allow. Okay.

And and please just I just want to note that um I believe I gave you my cell phone number. So if there's ever an issue like that, please call me immediately. Perfect.

Um all right. That that would be my concern if they have visitors and because a lot of people uh just like was stated in the earlier statement. Oh, there's shared parking. There has never been shared parking. Um I've basically lived in that house since 1955. And um I bought it from my parents when they retired and moved to Arizona. And um we have never shared parking with the house next door cuz the house that I live in now, the that house uh used to be a rooming house for college students. But I do not have a license for rooming. I do not have anybody else live with me or anything. So I don't have that issue. Um, but I like all the parking because I have three vehicles and a motorcycle and sometimes I let my nephew park his car there because when he goes out of state, he wants to put his car someplace else and he'll park his car there. So, I like all the parking be able to use all the parking I have because I have room to park like six vehicles along there, not to count my backyard where I have another apron to park another car. So, I just like to have all that available to me. And so when I come home and I go to park and there's a car there where I normally park, it just it's a bit irritating.

I understand. Understand heard your concern. So yeah, sure. Uh so I know we've talked a couple times um kind of about the parking and I know you had said at one point that if we needed to use the one front spot that it was okay that we did here and there. Um, but I also had asked and I hope that we can work out something where we can put some no parking signs or no FSA no shelter parking signs to prevent that from happening in the future. So, I'm I'm easy to get along with. I mean, if somebody if you pull into that first parking spot and you're just need to run in the house for 15 20 minutes, I don't get that out of shape over that. But trust you too. We'll work that out regarding Yeah. So,

and perhaps we can work out we we can work that out with some signage. That's what I was hoping. Yes. Okay. But that's really my only concern is about the uh blocking of the driveway and pretty much that's about it. Okay. I appreciate that. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else?

Yes. My name is 303 Birchwood Lane. I would just like to speak in favor of this. And um one of the reasons Family Service Agency has a great reputation for following through and doing things appropriately and according to regulations is because this person right here. Good organizations have good leaders and Tanisha is a a great leader. Um I'm a retired teacher also and um over the years I've heard so many sad stories about youth in this category who are suddenly without a home and left on the streets or left to their own devices and they have I can tell you from the stories I've heard fallen into some really bad situations. So, I think this is something we've needed in our community for a long time and I hope that you will approve this to go forward.

Thank you very much. Any other comments or questions? If not, I'll close the public hearing and open to comments and questions from the commission. I agree with Dan and that this is a needed thing and I think that Tanisha will do a great job with it. I think you don't have to worry about the property values and I think you'll get along with the neighbors. So, I'm in favor of this. I agree. Yep. I have one and I think it's just really fortunate that you found that house that already had some of the the necessary equipment in it potentially wise. One question I have because you said that somebody was one of the neighbors had commented about marketability and safety and all that. You're not going to hear any signs promoting any of this, are you?

Uh the only sign we'll have is a family service agency sign with it'll say roots to rise. That's all it's going to say. Um it's very it's like our logo. Um it'll be approp we have to get obviously permits to put up the sign so it'll meet all the requirements of all that but no the intent is not to attract attract um no absolutely we want our youth to be safe as well and we have lots of safety features in place. I'm also a a mother of five so I know about all the tricks in the book. So and the other thing too instead of signs you can put cones. Yes. Temporarily. Yes. Absolutely. Is there a is there a curfew for the house?

Yes. So, the youth will have a curfew. Um, we are currently kind of establishing what those will be. Um, I want to be a little strict than what other shelters are. Um, because I don't think youth should be out, especially homeless youth should be out roaming the streets. Um, so yes, we are looking at shel our curfews. Um, right now I I don't want to put anything in stone, but right now I'm looking at like an 8:00 p.m. during the week. um and a little later um on the weekends. And again, it it changes with age. 17 year olds might be a little bit different. Um but there are a lot of rules in place as far as like once you're in the home at a certain time, you have to be there for dinner. It's not a come and go shelter. Um it's not a come there and sleep at night and you're gone during the day. It is a very intense program program shelter. So the intent is that youth will be there more than they're not. And we are putting in a recck room because if you have things for children to do, it keeps them off the street. So we're really working on having things there to keep our youth engaged as well.

Great. So outstanding. And just a note on the motion to uh for time, you can just you don't have to read each four conditions. You can just note the four conditions in the staff report if you wish. So I'll look for a motion to approve. No, I'll make the motion. Yeah. Um, based on the submitted petition, testimony presented, and findings of fact, I move the planning and zoning commission forward its findings of fact and recommend to the city council approval of a special use permit for a lodging house at 220 College Avenue subject to the um conditions in the staff report.

So, move by Flair. May I have a second? I second. Seconded by Pina Graham on May I have a roll call, please? Yes. Yes. Graham, yes. Wright, yes. McMahon, yes. Maxon, yes. Motion passes. Thank you very much. Uh staff report for the next meeting. Yeah. December 15th, one hearing 315 North 6th Street, a private therapeutic day school, a resoning, and a special use uh permit requested. So, and thanks for your time tonight and patience and good questions uh for the hearings. If nothing else, I'll ask for a motion to approve or to adjurnn. I move to adjurnn.

So, move have flarity. May I have a second? Second by right. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Same sign.