HOWELL, Mich. – After an hours-long meeting Thursday night, the Howell Township Board voted to pass a moratorium that will delay approval of the proposal to build a massive AI data center for the next six months.
While the moratorium is delaying the establishment of the data center, the township is still considering whether to rezone the 1,000 acres of land located near Grand River Avenue and Flemming Road.
The township board will discuss the rezoning at its next meeting on December 8th.
The moratorium delays approval for six months, or until the township has enacted an ordinance setting regulations for the establishment and use of data centers.
While the township currently has data processing listed as a permitted principal use under its zoning ordinance, there are no established performance standards specific to data centers.
The project, which is reportedly backed by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has sparked outrage among homeowners who don’t want to see the farmland where the facility would be built rezoned.
The Livingston County Planning Commission voted not to recommend the rezoning at a meeting Wednesday night.
The Howell Township Planning Commission also voted to deny the rezoning back in September.
At Wednesday’s meeting, an attorney representing Randee LLC, one of the developers behind the project, shared legally binding conditions developers would be willing to agree to in order to control noise and light pollution and limit water usage.
Developers are considering “dry cooling” technology that would use airflow instead of water to cool components.
Thousands of residents have signed petitions against the data center rezoning, citing concerns that the data center will drain water resources and impact utility costs.
“My major issue is a 28-foot well versus a million gallons of water being drawn out of that aquifer,” said Howell resident Russell Auger, whose property is located next to the proposed site.
“It doesn’t seem worth it, especially if it’s going to raise electrical rates for everybody in the county,” said Rob Hower, a candidate for Michigan State Senate District 22. “In the long term, it hurts the regular people.”