GAINES CHARTER TWP., Mich. — Thursday night's Gaines Charter Twp. Planning Commission meeting is now cancelled. A big topic on the agenda was rezoning a 40 acre parcel on Patterson Ave. SE for potential data center use.
Now, Microsoft has asked Gaines Twp. to cancel the meeting. In a letter shared by the township dated Feb. 4, Microsoft asked to push the meeting to late March. They say they want to evolve their plans, and say they are hoping to get more community feedback, specifically from a community meeting they hope to plan for early March.
A planning commission meeting in December was postponed after more than 300 people packed into a boardroom which was only cleared to hold 250. Tonight's meeting had been moved to South Christian High School to accommodate a bigger crowd, before it was cancelled.
Public interest in data centers has grown across West Michigan. Lowell has also dealt with large crowds, having to cancel this week's meeting because they were worried the new, larger venue was not ADA compliant. The topic dominated a January meeting, despite it not being on the official agenda. Microsoft is also behind a proposed project in the township.
