A group of residents living near a proposed $20 billion data center campus in the Joliet, Illinois, area has sued to stop the project, arguing that city leaders violated state law by approving an industrial complex that could place serious pressure on water and power supplies and nearby neighborhoods.
According to Shaw Local, the legal challenge takes aim at one of the biggest planned developments in the region: a 795-acre project known as the Joliet Technology Center that is designed to include four sub-campuses and 24 buildings.
The lawsuit, filed May 18 in Will County by attorneys for Joliet Residents For Responsible Growth, comes from a local group whose named plaintiffs live in unincorporated Elwood near the proposed site in the hopes of voiding the Joliet City Council's approval of the project.
Council members backed the annexation agreement 8-1. Shaw Local reported that the first sub-campus is expected to be completed in 2028, and developers have said the full site would bring billions in tax revenue and thousands of jobs.
But according to the lawsuit, the city's approval process was unlawful. Among the allegations are that a February public notice failed to clearly inform residents that the proposal involved a massive data center campus, that a March meeting violated the Open Meetings Act, that residents were denied a meaningful chance to challenge testimony, and that rezoning the land from agricultural to light industrial was unconstitutional.
The filing also raises conflict-of-interest concerns tied to the city's review process.
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Shaw Local reported that the lawsuit says the campus could consume 100,000 to 150,000 gallons of water per day from an aquifer that is already projected to fall short of peak demand by 2030, before Joliet's planned switch to Lake Michigan water.
The project's 1.8-gigawatt electricity demand would be roughly comparable to the generating capacity of the Hoover Dam, noted Shaw Local. The lawsuit alleges the development could bring noise, traffic, vibration, light, and air-quality burdens, especially to District 5 on Joliet's south and east sides.
Like many large data center projects, this one is tied to the AI boom. AI systems rely on enormous amounts of computing power that is stored and processed in facilities like these. That relationship can have benefits, including helping improve grid management, forecast electricity demand, and support cleaner energy systems. But critics have warned that the same infrastructure can drive up electricity and water use, raise concerns about utility costs, and create security and misuse risks as the technology spreads.
City leaders and developers have continued to emphasize the project's economic upside. Hillwood has said, according to Shaw Local, that the center could generate $2.1 billion for taxing bodies over 30 years, create 7,000 to 10,000 construction jobs, and support 700 permanent high-paying jobs.
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The city also set up a project webpage in February, featuring a dozen application-related documents, following calls for greater transparency, according to Shaw Local. City staff have said the campus would use a "closed-loop system that recycles water and significantly reduces overall water usage," and that its electricity demand would be "self-contained."
"The city does not comment on pending litigation," a city spokeswoman said. The dispute follows local frustration over how large industrial projects are being pushed into the area, including District 5 Council member Suzanna Ibarra's warning that the district is a "dumping ground for what other districts don't want."
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