Amidst lawsuit, Yorkville’s updated Comprehensive Plan charts new industrial path for city
The Yorkville City Council has approved amendments to its Comprehensive Plan, including rezoning for two major data center projects, Project Cardinal and Project Steel. This decision has sparked a lawsuit from a group of residents who argue the plan deviates too far from the city's original land use expectations.
The Yorkville City Council has unanimously approved amendments to its Comprehensive Plan, facilitating the development of agricultural land into industrial and commercial projects, including two significant data centers dubbed Project Cardinal and Project Steel. Community Development Director Krysti Barksdale-Noble stated these alterations align the plan with the built environment and zoning decisions.
Project Cardinal, spanning 1,037 acres, is slated for 14 data center warehouses totaling 17 million square feet, with its site rezoned from estate/conservation residential to general manufacturing. Project Steel, a 540-acre development, will feature 16 data center warehouses encompassing 6.8 million square feet, also rezoned from single-family residential to manufacturing for data center use. The DMFT Loftus industrial site, previously considered for data centers, has been rezoned to general industrial but is no longer expected to host data centers, according to City Administrator Bart Olson.
These approvals have drawn criticism and led to a lawsuit filed by a resident group called Preserve Our Yorkville & Community, LLC. The lawsuit contends that the city's approval of these projects deviates significantly from the previously approved 2016 Comprehensive Plan, arguing that the city should have amended the plan before approving inconsistent projects. The city maintains that the Comprehensive Plan is a guide meant to be adjusted when circumstances warrant.
The amended plan also includes rezoning for a new Yorkville School District 115 building, the USA Energy Independence solar farm, and infrastructure for the Lake Michigan water sourcing project. Despite these comprehensive changes, the focus on industrial development, particularly data centers, remains a point of contention and legal challenge for the city of Yorkville.