LENOX TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Concerns over data centers have residents of Lenox Township banding together and demanding transparency from their local leaders.
It’s a story that’s becoming common in rural communities in Michigan and across the country. Residents pouring into board meetings to have their voices heard as data center developers search for new places to build.
Lenox Township Supervisor Anthony Reeder Jr. declined an interview, but did provide the Investigators at Local 4 with written statements via email. Those answers can be found below.
Drive through Lenox Township and New Haven and you’ll see the signs. They’re in yards, on storefronts, and impossible to miss: “No data centers.”
These mostly-rural communities in northern Macomb County are tight-knit, so when word started spreading about a possible data center they banded together.
Arianna Welsh is a fifth-generation Lenox Township property owner who is fighting against data centers. She says she’s doing it to protect her community.
“There’s people that have put absolutely everything they have into building homes in this community and being a part of this community -- and their kids go to school here and their grandkids, and everything,” Welsh said.
The area anti-data center residents are concerned about is the I-94 development district. That’s along I-94 from 26 Mile Road to 28 Mile Road between I-94 and Gratiot.
“We don’t need to destroy an entire community to put in a hyperscale data center campus,” Welsh said.
There has been pro-data center movement too in Lenox Township. In May, an anonymous website, LenoxDataCenter.com popped up. It calls data centers a “smart investment in our schools, our roads, and our future.”
The number listed on the website is the number for the Lenox Township offices. The township said they’re aware of the website, but did not “create, authorize” or “fund” it.
Additionally, mailers went out to residents with a similar message. They also list the township office phone number -- but the mailers say they’re from the Michigan Deserves Better nonprofit political group.
When it comes to data center concerns, Welsh says it’s been difficult to get answers from leadership.
“The elected officials do not listen to anything coming from the public. Whether it’s vocalized during public comment, emailed to them, conversated at other points, they either sit silent at board tables, don’t respond to emails, and just leave everybody to start guessing.
Village of New Haven
Nestled inside Lenox Township is the Village of New Haven, an even smaller community, but one New Haven Village President Brian Meissen says is growing quickly. Meissen spoke to the Local 4 Investigators not in his role as president, but as a concerned citizen.
“For me, my favorite thing about living here really is the community itself,” Meissen said. “In moments of crisis or in moments of need, everybody has each other’s back.”
Meissen is the one who submitted the first open records requests that brought these controversial emails to light.
A January 13, 2026 email from a property owner in the I-94 development district to Reeder where they say, “We have been approached by a large data center developer that would like to meet with you ...”
The next day, Reeder writes that he won’t be available at the time they requested. He asks if they’d like to meet in February. Reeder tells Local 4 that that meeting never happened. An email from January 14, 2026, shows us the developer “wanted to meet with the planner.”
Then, just seven days later, a real estate developer reached out to Reeder and Deputy Supervisor Mark Grabow with a drafted letter of support saying, “That Lenox Township is supportive of the proposed data center.” Reeder says the township never sent that letter.
On January 28, 2026, the supervisor’s office posted on social media, saying they’re, “Aware of rumors” and state “unequivocally that no company has submitted any application, site plan, zoning request, or development plan for a data center, nor has any such project been discussed with or endorsed by” the township.
Reeder said the township hasn’t “had direct contact with a data center company or developer concerning a proposed project in Lenox Township.” He does admit that they received that request for a letter of support, but that the township didn’t provide it.
Regarding the email from the property owner. Reeder says, “We declined the requested meeting and directed him to the appropriate process for arranging a meeting with the township’s new municipal planner.”
Answers from Lenox Township supervisor
The following answers were provided via email by Lenox Township Supervisor Anthony Reeder Jr.
- Question: Do you support bringing a data center to Lenox Township?
“Personally, no. I do not want a data center in Lenox Township.
“However, public office requires more than simply imposing my personal preferences. I am obligated to follow Michigan law, apply the Township’s ordinances fairly, and respect the legal rights of property owners. I will not knowingly expose the Township and its taxpayers to litigation simply to satisfy a political demand that may be unlawful.
“There is an important difference between personally opposing a project and abusing governmental authority to predetermine or prohibit a lawful land use. I will continue to separate those two responsibilities.”
- Question: Have you been in contact with data center developers? If so, what is the extent of that contact?
“Neither I, nor the Township have had direct contact with a data center company or developer concerning a proposed project in Lenox Township.
“The limited contact received consisted of a real estate agent requesting a letter of support, which the Township did not provide, and a property owner who indicated that he was considering selling property to a company. We declined the requested meeting and directed him to the appropriate process for arranging a meeting with the Township’s new municipal planner.
“Despite repeated public claims and insinuations, there has been no secret negotiation, no development agreement, no approved site, and no formal data center proposal submitted to the Township.”
- Question: Some residents have voiced concerns about a lack of transparency. Would you address their concerns?
“The Township has been transparent. Public meetings have been noticed, Township records remain available through the normal legal process, and official actions have occurred in public.
“What has not been transparent is the way some individuals have presented this issue to the public. Unsupported allegations, selective quotations, omitted context, and speculation have repeatedly been circulated as though they were established facts. That has created unnecessary fear and anger over a project that has not even been formally proposed.
“Transparency does not require Township officials to validate every rumor posted on social media. It requires us to provide accurate information, maintain public records, and conduct governmental business according to law. That is what we have done.”
- Question: Have Township employees and officials been told to direct all calls about data centers to your office?
“Yes. That was an administrative decision intended to ensure that residents, reporters, and interested parties received consistent and accurate information.
“This issue has generated an extraordinary amount of rumor and misinformation. Allowing numerous departments and employees to independently answer the same questions creates a real risk of incomplete, conflicting, or outdated responses being circulated publicly.
“Centralizing communications was not an attempt to conceal information. It was an attempt to prevent misinformation, the very problem some of the Township’s critics have repeatedly contributed to.”
- Question: What would you like to say to concerned residents?
“Residents have every right to ask questions, express opposition, and hold elected officials accountable. They also deserve better than being frightened or manipulated by claims that are unsupported by the actual record.
“There is no formal application, site plan, or development proposal before the Township. Yet some individuals have repeatedly spoken as though a project has already been secretly approved and construction is imminent. That is simply not true.
“This campaign has also crossed the line from legitimate policy disagreement into personal character attacks against me and other Township officials. False and misleading claims have caused real damage to reputations, personal relationships, and the ability of the Township to conduct ordinary public business.
“I will not allow political pressure, online hostility, or personal attacks to force me into disregarding the law. My responsibility is to protect Lenox Township, its residents, and its taxpayers by acting lawfully and based on facts rather than fear.”
- Question: Is there anything else I should know?
“The most important fact is the one repeatedly lost in the public rhetoric: there is currently no formal data center application, site plan, or development proposal before Lenox Township.
“The public controversy has been driven largely by speculation about what might someday be proposed. That speculation has been amplified by individuals and organizations that have treated rumor as fact and ordinary governmental actions as evidence of conspiracy or misconduct.
“Should an actual proposal ever be filed, it would have to proceed through the legally required review process. Residents would have the same rights to participate, comment, and review the public record that apply to other land-use matters.
“Until then, people should be honest about the distinction between a hypothetical possibility and an actual pending project. Those are not the same thing, no matter how often the contrary is repeated on social media.”
- Question: Is the township aware of this website (lenoxdatacenter.com)? It encourages people to call the township directly using the township’s phone number. Is the township involved in this website? If not, is the township planning on taking action against the website?
“The Township is aware of the website. The Township did not create, authorize, fund, coordinate, or participate in that website, and it should not be viewed as an official Township communication.
“The phone number listed on the website is the Township’s public phone number. Residents are always free to contact the Township and express their views, whether they support or oppose an issue. However, the Township has no involvement in that website, its messaging, its claims, or any effort to direct calls to Township Hall.
“As a practical matter, the Township’s legal options are limited when dealing with third-party advocacy or political speech, even when that speech is frustrating or creates confusion. The Township cannot take action against a website simply because it supports a position or encourages people to contact public officials. The more appropriate response is to make clear what is and is not an official Township communication.
“Any official information from Lenox Township will come through official Township channels, not third-party advocacy websites. If the website falsely suggests Township involvement, endorsement, or authorization, the Township can review that issue further with legal counsel. But at this time, the important point is simple: the website is not ours, and it does not speak for the Township.”
