Grayslake cancels meeting with public comment about massive data center, lawsuit to halt construction filed

Residents of Grayslake held a protest after a meeting where neighbors planned to make their voices heard about a huge data center was canceled.

A massive T5 data center is being built on 473 acres of land. While the village is touting an estimated $18 billion in private investment, people who live around the land said it was approved without them being given an opportunity to give feedback about the huge project.

Tuesday's meeting for public comment has not been rescheduled by the village. The mayor of Grayslake put up a presentation on YouTube for residents last week.

The data center is set to take up a space that is larger than 100 football fields, and will be built over the next seven to 10 years. Residents like Bob Landolfi said many of his fellow community members didn't understand what was going to be built, or the size, until it was a done deal. Those in opposition claim the ambiguous language was used purposefully.

Those complaints against the village are at the crux of a lawsuit filed by the Lake County Data Center Opposition Coalition, which seeks to block the project.

"Just the lack of transparency," said neighbor Robin Weller. "We were blindsided."

The lawsuit is due to be heard in court in November.

"I don't think they have enough information about these hyperscale data centers that are up and running yet," Weller said.

T5 CEO Peter Marin sent a letter to Grayslake residents detailing a projecting $1.36 billion in local tax revenue over the next 20 years.

"We want to make sure that people are properly informed with the facts," he said.

"If we weren't doing the right thing? We wouldn't be here today. We've built data centers all over the U.S.," he added. "What we are going to bring to the community is tremendous."

Marin spoke to CBS News Chicago Investigators over Zoom Wednesday afternoon after weeks of interview requests.

"What I do know is that we, T5, did everything by the book," he said of the residents' complaints. "One hundred percent. We followed all of the rules and regulations. We followed the law to a T."

The PR group that represents T5 said there are many residents in Grayslake who are in favor of the data center, but many are concerned about speaking publicly because of recent threats. CBS News Chicago Investigators tried but did not find anyone willing to go on camera.

Tuesday night, people still showed up to make their voices heard after the village canceled the meeting allowing public comment.

"The village board canceled yet another meeting saying there is no business to discuss," Landolfi said.

The village has also refused repeated requests from CBS News Chicago Investigators to sit down and speak to us.

The mayor posted a presentation to YouTube last week You never se her face as she discusses some resident concerns they've heard, including worries about noise and quality of life.

"There should be a meeting and they should listen. We don't feel they're listening," Landolfi.

Grayslake village officials would not go on camera, and a spokesperson said no other public comment session has been planned.