Courtesy Construction Review
By Joel Mairura | Construction Review
The proposed 185-acre data center in Hoffman Estates by Karis Critical has been cancelled as the firm bows out. The firm has withdrawn its request to rezone land for the controversial data center project in Illinois. Its scope entailed being constructed at the edge of the village of Hoffman Estates’ municipal boundaries. Moreover, it would have bordered the nearby areas of South Barrington and Barrington Hills.
However, it raised serious questions about how the neighboring towns, which have no official say in decision making, are impacted by such projects (?). “After several weeks of conversations with the Village and residents, we’ve decided the right step is to withdraw the current rezoning request,” Karis Critical spokesman Patrick Skarr said.
“We heard the feedback clearly, including the call for a more specific plan before any rezoning. We’ll take the time to get that right. Should we bring a proposal forward in the future, the Village and the community will have the details they need to evaluate it fully and on its merits.” Residents have always been against the project as shown by a recent public hearing where they showed up in numbers. Despite bowing out, other data centers across the US are still advancing such as “Project Marvel” in Bessemer which QTS has been identified as its developer.
The proposed 185-acre data center in Hoffman Estates by Karis Critical has been cancelled as the firm bows out. | Courtesy Construction Review
Factors Leading to Opposition of Proposed Data Center in Hoffman Estates
One of the major factors that led to opposition of the proposed data center in Hoffman Estate was transparency concerns. When the Plan Commission held its meeting, discussion was limited to the issue of rezoning the site from traditional neighborhood and commercial mixed-use districts to a manufacturing district. Moreover, residents were told there were no specific site plans for a data center project.
Other residents had concerns about the impacts of a large-scale data center on traffic, noise and light pollution and air quality. Hoffman Estates has two other data centers under construction. However, they are in areas already zoned for manufacturing that residents said are more appropriate than the residential area near forest preserves.
“Nobody here is saying, ‘Don’t do a data center,’ everyone’s saying, ‘Don’t do it here,’” Barrington Hills resident Karen Trzaska said. A public records request seeking communication from village stuff about the project also revealed much. It noted that the project had been in discussion as early as 18 months ago, raising more concerns on the project’s transparency.
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