'My Wife Is Mad at Me': An Illinois Dairy Farmer's Data Center Dilemma

Former Kane County Board member Mike Kenyon — a Republican who represented the South Elgin area for 18 years and is a Vietnam-era veteran — owns more than 1,000 acres in Kane County, where he farms and keeps roughly 55 dairy cows. Dallas-based Whiterose Partners LLC, which states on its own website that it has sited more than 20 data centers, approached Kenyon about a 20-acre slice of his 31.4-acre parcel at the corner of Kenyon Road and Illinois Route 25. The project would require annexing the land into the Village of South Elgin.

Kenyon has been candid about the tension the offer has created. As reported by the Kane County Chronicle/Shaw Local on July 16, 2026, Kenyon said: "My wife is mad at me. I'm expecting people to be mad at me." He's also laid out his own reasoning for considering the deal: "It's an ideal place — no houses, a Prairie Path with a row of trees ... as long as the village makes them pay for what they use. Seems like a good deal, but what do I know."

In an email to the Kane County Chronicle, Whiterose Managing Partner Jeff Eigenbrood addressed the standard community objections to data centers head-on: the South Elgin facility would use a closed-loop cooling system requiring a one-time fill of less than half an Olympic-sized swimming pool, with ongoing operational water use projected to be less than that of two single-family homes. Eigenbrood also cited an internal sound study projecting noise levels below those of a local quarry, and said the developer — not existing ratepayers — would cover the cost of any required electric grid upgrades.

South Elgin is a small entry in a much larger pattern reshaping Chicago's collar counties: with cropland in Kane County already running $12,000–$17,000+ an acre due to development pressure — well above the $8,930/acre Illinois state average and more than double the $5,830/acre U.S. average — data center developers are increasingly targeting farmland at the metro edge, where power infrastructure and highway access meet land that's still zoned agricultural. No purchase price has been disclosed for the Kenyon parcel, and it's worth noting this remains a concept-plan proposal, not a completed sale.

The concept plan goes before the South Elgin Planning and Zoning Commission on Aug. 19, 2026, at the Public Safety Center. Community Development Director Nancy Hill described this stage as "a look-see, to give preliminary feedback before a developer or applicant spends a lot of money on final engineering" — the commission's determinations are advisory only. A formal annexation and rezoning process, with additional public hearings, would follow if the project moves forward. South Elgin has already postponed one meeting this month over concerns about parking demand tied to public interest in data center proposals.