Overview:
- About 35 miles outside of Detroit, the Washington Township project joins a growing number of data centers under consideration in the metro area.
- Ahead of the meeting, over 170 people submitted email responses to the commission, with the majority voicing opposition to the data center.
- The site — 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.
Washington Township residents packed a public hearing Thursday on a data center proposal in the Macomb County community.
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.
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312 acres of land, the proposed site is relatively smaller than the 575-acre site proposed in Saline Township and the withdrawn proposal for a 1,077-acre data center campus in Howell Township.
About 35 miles outside of Detroit, the Washington Township project joins a growing number of data centers under consideration in the metro area.
On Thursday, the Washington Township Planning Commission held a public hearing to gather community input on the real estate company’s proposal, which requests 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.
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.
After Thursday’s hearing, 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.
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