LOWELL TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A highly anticipated public hearing on a potential data center in Lowell Township was over before it even started.
With sign-ups sheets filled and a line of people spilling into the hallway on Monday night, Lowell Township Planning Commission Chair David Simmonds adjourned the meeting due to safety concerns raised by the fire marshal.
"We were over capacity," Simmonds said. "You cannot have your meeting if you have more people in the building than is allowed."
Simmonds said the commission had planned on a high turnout and discussed moving to a different venue but decided to proceed with the township hall.
When the standing room crowd far surpassed the building's 121-person capacity, Simmonds addressed them. Unless a significant amount people left the meeting, it would have to be postponed to a later date, he said. No one seemed to object.
"This is an appropriate delay tonight," Lowell Township resident Greg Forbes said. "The idea of asking half of the audience to leave so the other half could hear was a non-starter."
While the time and date are not set, the township said on Monday that it planned to hold a public hearing on the data center at a makeup meeting at Lowell High School in January.
"I love the fact that our citizens are involved," Simmonds said. "Now, of course, this is a hot topic, but that's okay, you know? They're letting us know what they think, and that's what we want to do."
While Lowell Township and the City of Lowell say, if approved, they'll be able to collect millions in property taxes from the data center, neighbors are concerned about its impact on water rates, energy and the environment.
“I think we've seen the groundswell of opinion in the township. We know how that's going to go," Forbes said. "But clearly this is a democratic process, and hopefully everybody will come to the table for the conversation."
"Lowell showed up tonight," said Amy Fotis, a Vergennes Township resident. "We need to fill that [next meeting] beyond capacity and we need to keep doing that, and that will shut it down."
What is a data center?
A data center is a facility that houses computer hardware used for the storage, processing and distributing of digital information.
What is Covenant Business Park?
A large, undeveloped plot of land near I-96 and Alden Nash Avenue, Covenant Business Park is located in Lowell Charter Township.
An agreement between Lowell Township and the City of Lowell allows the latter to have a stake in its upkeep and benefit from its use.
While the township is responsible for planning, zoning and code enforcement and other items, the city oversees the levying of taxes, assessing of property and more.
Currently, the business park is zoned for light industrial and commercial uses. A rezoning would clarify language in the township's ordinance to permit a data center as a permitted light industrial use.
How will a data center impact water supply?
Due to the heat generated by their computers servers, data centers use a significant amount of water for their cooling systems.
Per an MLive report, the potential data center would use about as much water as a 30-home residential development.
Whether or not a data center is approved, the City of Lowell has said it "will need to" expand its water capacity, which is capable of pumping 1.5 million gallons of water a day
An expansion of these facilities would allow the plant to pump 3 million gallons of water a day.
"This would allow us to meet the needs of the growing communities in our service area and have a comfortable margin," the City of Lowell said on its website.
If the data center is approved, the city and township say a development agreement will ensure that upgrades to the water plant will come at "no additional cost to rate payers" and that the data center will command no more than one-sixth of the plant's expanded capacity.
How will a data center impact the economy?
If approved, the City of Lowell says it would be able to levy 15.7 mills in property taxes on the data center, with the city receiving 9.7 and the township receiving 6.
"This would help lower property taxes for City residents and provide more revenue for police needs," the city said, adding that the total investment of the data center could be from $500 million to $1 billion.
What about other data centers in Michigan?
In Washtenaw County, DTE Energy is proposing a multi-billion-dollar, 1.4-gigawatt site on a nearly 250-acre plot of farmland. The utility company is seeking expedited approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission to provide power to what would be the state's largest economic project.Neighbors in the area are worried it could cause their bills to increase and have a negative impact on the environment.
According to the online database Data Center Map, Michigan has 59 data centers across the state. That includes nine in the Grand Rapids area and five more across the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek area.
FOX 17 reported last year that Microsoft purchased land in Kent County for a potential data center. The 300-plus acres was acquired in November 2024 in Gaines Charter Township.
FOX 17 reached out to the township to see if there were any updates on the project, and their Community Development Director told us, "We did meet with Microsoft representatives November 18th.
They have not submitted any formal plans but have indicated up to now that they intend to build a data center on their property."
