The proposed data center project in Pekin isn't dead.
The legal process that would void the contract between the city and developer Western Hospitality Partners [WHP] and result in the data center's demise still must play out.
That was the message City Attorney Jim Vasselli delivered to the Pekin City Council and more than 100 audience members who once again filled the council meeting room and City Hall lobby for Monday's regular meeting.
Vasselli was asked by the council at its previous meeting to provide legal guidance for stopping the data center, planned on 321 of the 1,000-acre Lutticken Farm property, after Mayor Mary Burress announced the city would not move forward with the project.
"WHP needs zoning and site plan approvals before anything else happens, full stop. That there cannot be any approvals or steps or construction undertaken without zoning or site plan approvals, or they are waived – but you can't waive zoning. You cannot waive zoning and you cannot waive a site plan," said Vasselli, who noted the property is currently zoned for light industrial.
"No one can site a data center at the property as currently zoned. It is not permitted under county law, state law or local law."
WHP must be allowed under its contract with the city to submit an application for a zoning change and a site plan, Vasselli said. Then the council would vote on them. Council also would vote on any redevelopment incentives that are offered to WHP.
Four of the six council members – Jake Fletcher, Rick Hilst, Dave Nutter and Peg Phillips – and Burress have publicly announced their opposition to the project.
"Nothing in the contract stops you from voting your conscience on these matters," Vasselli told the council.
Vasselli plans to report to the council at its April 13 meeting on when or if WHP plans to submit a zoning change application or site plan.
The zoning change would first go to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a recommendation to the council.
Vasselli also will look to see if WHP violated the contract by not providing the city $50,000 in earnest money in a timely manner, as some council members have alleged.
The effective date of the contract was June 24, 2025. WHP originally had up to nine months to complete its due diligence, but it has been granted an extension.
Vasselli gave a presentation at the beginning of the council meeting and spoke later on a resolution that asked him "to review the contract and present the council with a memorandum on the city's contractual obligations, rights and contingencies."
The resolution passed 6-0. Phillips did not attend the meeting because she was ill.
There was nearly 90 minutes of public comment between Vasselli's presentation and the resolution agenda item, with 20 of 22 speakers taking swipes at the data center project.
While many of the familiar concerns about the proposed data center were expressed by the speakers, and offers were once again made to help find a better use for the land, there also was criticism of city officials and Vasselli.
Matthew Johnson told Burress the wording of her statement at the previous council meeting was not right, and he's now afraid the city has a target on its back for a lawsuit from WHP.
Steve Dennis said he wasn't happy with City Manager John Dossey's decision to cancel Tuesday's planned town hall meeting on the data center. Dennis said the town hall is still needed.
Dan Taylor, president of the Country Club Estates Homeowners Association, talked about a trip to Aurora he took to check out the data center there.
"The noise coming out of that place sounds like an obnoxious waterfall that does not stop," he said.
While speaking with an Aurora resident who lives near the data center in that city, Taylor said the resident gave a 10-minute speech about how the facility has ruined his dream home and made him wish he'd never moved from Naperville.
The video was posted on Facebook.
"I went in this man's backyard, and as I walked closer to the data center, a 2½-3-story building, the sound got louder and louder and louder," Taylor said.
"We have 284 lots in Country Club Estates. None of us can vote in Pekin because we don't live within the city limits. But really, none of us in this room can vote on this issue. You guys [pointing to the council] can vote. Please do the right thing."
Among the topics from other speakers: Mark Stevens suggested tighter restrictions for areas zoned light industrial; Adam Rogers suggested selling the proposed data center site to Illinois Central College for use as a wildlife and environmental conservation campus and said a state grant is available for that; and Terry Johnson talked about Elon Musk's plans for data centers in space that would make data centers on land unnecessary in a few years.
