Allen Park data center noise model
A noise model for a proposed data center in Allen Park. Screenshot courtesy of the City of Allen Park.

Overview:

  • Allen Park Planning Commission delays approval of a 26-megawatt data center for the second time, requesting more studies on noise and water usage.
  • Twenty residents raise concerns about air pollution from diesel generators and potential impacts on electric reliability and power bills.
  • City councilperson says local officials lack authority to address broader data center impacts, calls for state and federal action.

The Allen Park Planning Commission again postponed a decision Thursday on the application for a 26-megawatt data center, planned for a site on Enterprise Drive south of I-94.

City Councilperson Dan Lloyd, who introduced the motion to delay the decision, said he’s concerned about updated plans for the data center to connect to municipal water and wants to ensure there is adequate capacity in an area with other large water users.

The commission called on the developer Solstice Data to provide a further sound study and address other questions raised by city departments.

The commission previously delayed a decision on the project in January to obtain additional information.

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Why it matters

Opponents of an Allen Park data center project say it could bring more air pollution to an already burdened area, compromise grid reliability, and increase energy bills. Supporters say it will bring jobs and significant tax revenue to the city.

Who's making public decisions

The Allen Park Planning Commission is considering a proposal for a 26 MW data center in the city. The Michigan legislature is considering bills to place a one-year moratorium on data centers.

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What to watch for next

A future Allen Park Planning Commission meeting where Solstice Data will present additional sound studies and address questions from city departments before a final decision is made.

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Civic resources compiled by Planet Detroit

Around 20 people spoke during the public comment period of Thursday’s meeting, with many raising concerns about air pollution from the data center’s backup generators, and its potential to jeopardize electric reliability and increase power bills.

Allen Park resident Diane Curry called attention to Michigan legislation that would enact a one-year moratorium on data centers. The city should pass its own moratorium of at least six months, she said. 

“There are still too many unanswered questions regarding the risk to our residents’ health,” she said.

Lloyd addressed calls for a moratorium at the end of the meeting, and said the city couldn’t enact such a pause after Solstice submitted its application, because that would be seen as unfairly targeting the company.

The councilperson said he shares many of the concerns brought up at the meeting, including over artificial intelligence’s impact on jobs and education and data centers’ effects on the power grid and the environment.

The Allen Park Planning Commission has no authority beyond determining whether applicants meet zoning ordinances, Lloyd said.

“We need to go to Lansing; we need to go to Washington, D.C.,” he said.

Data center study offers more detail on noise, water use

The facility would use over 3 million gallons of water annually that would be trucked in for its closed-loop cooling system, according to an updated March 2 study prepared by the city’s planning consultant Carlisle Wortman. 

The cooling equipment would be connected to municipal water for emergency use.

The data center plan calls for 12 diesel generators for backup power and five above-ground fuel tanks.

The facility’s noise levels will meet the city’s 60 dB(A), or A-weighted decibel limit, the study said. Generators will produce noise as loud as 108 dB(A), which the planning study identifies as roughly the volume of a “nightclub.”

Allen Park Building Department Director Matt Baker previously told Planet Detroit the project would not require a new electrical substation.

The data center will create 200 temporary construction jobs and bring $6.2 million to $7.4 million in property tax revenue to the city each year, Tony Graham, commercial leader for Solstice Data, said in January.

On Thursday, Robert Coates, project director for Solstice, said the data center would create 30 permanent jobs.

The Allen Park facility would be part of a “cluster of data centers” Solstice Data plans to develop in Metro Detroit, according to documents submitted by the company to the city.

Most vulnerable could be impacted by data center pollution: Allen Park resident

Nicole Hopkins, an Allen Park resident and nurse practitioner, told planning commissioners Thursday the data center would add pollution in an area with high rates of asthma and chronic lung disease.

In 2025, Detroit received an F for air quality in the American Lung Association’s State of the Air Report.

Allen Park resident and nurse practitioner Nicole Hopkins. Photo by Brian Allnutt/Planet Detroit.

“These data centers will add to the burden of pollution on the environment and the bodily health of the residents here in Allen Park,” Hopkins said, calling attention to the facility’s location near Melvindale High School, Inter-City Baptist Church, and Maple Heights Senior Living.

“The old, the young, the most vulnerable, are the first people that are going to be inhaling these things,” Hopkins said, referring to emissions from the data center’s generators.

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Brian Allnutt is a senior reporter and contributing editor at Planet Detroit. He covers the climate crisis, environmental justice, politics and open space.