Washington Township planners postpone data center decision after 3 hours of resident feedback

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When Almont resident John Ardelean heard about a public hearing to rezone a nearby town’s vacant land for a potential data center, he quickly changed his Thursday night plans with his wife. 

“You might get a few people to go to a school board meeting or another one, but rarely on such short notice,” said Ardelean, who lives about 10 miles north of Washington Township, where the hearing was held. 

“My wife told me about it. I’m not on Facebook, but she told me about it and I changed my schedule so that we can come up here together and be here and make our voices heard.”

With a few days’ notice, over 100 residents from across Macomb County like Ardelean flocked to Washington Township. Up for discussion was a proposal to rezone four parcels of commercial and agricultural land in the township’s northeast corner into an industrial district primed for new tech businesses. 

After hearing three hours of public comments Thursday, Washington Township planning officials postponed a rezoning decision for a data center development.

The decision is being postponed for a month given the overwhelming public comment and the need to review the material further, Barry Miller, vice chair of the township’s planning commission, told the audience.

“I just don’t feel comfortable throwing this at the wall,” said Miller. “I want to take the time to make the right decision.”

In mid-November, San Francisco-based real estate company Prologis submitted a rezoning application to Washington Township officials for the development of a technical campus and data center. 

A township attorney informed Prologis on Wednesday that it needs to shift from a conditional rezoning application to a traditional one, said Mark Hosfeld, vice president of customer-led development at Prologis.

“Before we go through any of these steps and have a project and move anything forward, we have to produce site plans,” said Hosfeld.

“We have to do studies. We have to look at the power, we have to look at the water. We have to look at all the things you talked about tonight, and that is really important to us and to the planning commission.”

At 312 acres of land, the proposed site is relatively smaller than the 575-acre site proposed in Saline Township and the withdrawn proposal for a 1,077-acre data center campus in Howell Township.

Majority of Washington Township resident comments in opposition to data center

About 35 miles outside of Detroit, the Washington Township project joins a growing number of data centers under consideration in the metro area.

The Washington Township Planning Commission held the public hearing to gather community input on the real estate company’s request that the land be rezoned for the township’s Industrial Research Technology category.

The proposed location is on the south side of 32 Mile Road, between M-53 and Powell Road.

Ahead of the meeting, over 170 people submitted email responses to the commission, with the majority voicing opposition to the proposed project, citing concerns over potential high energy and water demand, noise and light pollution, and a change to the rural character of Washington Township.

The emails include questions over the township’s ability to protect groundwater from pollution and its enforcement of performance and hazard mitigation standards for new industrial projects. 

Ardelean, who spoke during Thursday’s public comment period, said that while he’s behind industrial growth and job creation in the region, he doesn’t see how an artificial intelligence data center would benefit residents or their electricity bills.

“I truly believe this is something that would take us backwards 40 years, instead of propelling us forward 20 years,” he said. 

In a “frequently asked questions” report shared ahead of the meeting, Washington planning commission officials said they are not allowed to impose conditions to mitigate any environmental and public health impacts that could stem from the project. 

“The applicant must willingly offer conditions, and the township can choose whether or not to accept those conditions,” the report said.

Jennifer Nelson, senior vice president of global communications for Prologis, told Planet Detroit in an email before Thursday’s public hearing the company is “still early in evaluating what could work best on the site, including a possible technical or data-center use.

“Before we set any direction, we need to understand the township’s expectations and the path through planning and permitting,” said Nelson, who added the company could not provide any specific information about the proposed data center’s energy and water capacity this early into the process. 

Washington Township aims for business development

The proposed data center site is serviced by the municipal water system and has capacity for industrial activities, and would not need to draw on groundwater, according to the township document on the project.

The water and sewage infrastructure will remain sufficient as long as the data center’s developer uses a “closed-loop” or “dry air cooling” system to manage water consumption, according to the township.

The land parcels up for rezoning are among a handful of pieces of industrial vacant land that stretches from 28 to 32 Mile along M-53, according to a town master plan published in 2024.

The site for the proposed data center – once the home of a golf course and farmland – has been a recent target for development as Washington Township seeks industrial and commercial businesses to boost economic growth and job creation.

In 2024, Prologis came to the Washington Township Planning Commission with a proposal to turn 230 acres of that land into the site of a Stellantis auto parts distribution center.

The automaker ultimately passed on the project, according to the commission, citing concerns that the site was “too far from automotive industry hubs.”

The land is flanked by existing industrial uses, including a former Ford engine plant in nearby Romeo, and the Romeo State Airport.

Prologis says the surrounding roads and land would be a buffer between the site and nearby residential areas. 

While industrial projects are considered a key development for Washington Township’s economy and tax base, residents have advocated in past workshops for preserving its “natural environment and rural character” in a plan that balances new development with existing properties, according to the 2024 master plan. 

Fred Hakim, a retired IT professional and Washington Township resident, said he would welcome a data center if it could bring in more “tax paying customers to reduce the burden on the rest of us that live in residences.”

“Anybody that lives here knows power goes out every four or five weeks, sometimes for days at a time,” said Hakim. 

“An IRT and the infrastructure improvements that it’s going to require, in my opinion, those infrastructure improvements are going to help the entire township, because we’re going to have bigger pipes and more electricity coming into Washington Township. Right now, DTE has no incentive to improve our infrastructure.”

The majority of speakers advocated for the board to deny the rezoning application, slow down the process, or revisit the town’s master plan to erase language that allows for data centers in the IRT zoning category.  

Washington Township resident Corinne Graper started a Facebook group, “Protect Washington Township – No Data Center,” ahead of Thursday’s meeting. 

“Prologis is trying to reassure us that there are many steps to this and to minimize the rezoning tonight so we stop paying attention,” said Graper. “This is death by a thousand paper cuts.” 

Graper added: “We need to be organized and prepared, and we need to set up a community legal defense fund now so we can hire lawyers to fight a number of different scenarios that can play out in this rezoning. All of them end in a legal battle.”

The planning commission can decide whether to make a recommendation to the Washington Township Board of Trustees. From there, the applicant would have to apply for land use approval, which would require an additional public hearing.

As he walked out of Washington Township’s town offices, Ardelean said he was glad the commission postponed a decision, but more impressed by the strong showing by local residents.   

“It was very heartening to see and hear the words of our community … it says a lot about how much people care about their communities,” he said. 

Ardelean added that he and his wife will be back for next month’s meeting, and will bring more neighbors with them.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional details.

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