SOLON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The Solon Township Board unanimously approved a six-month moratorium Monday night that will prevent the township from accepting any data center proposals during that period.
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The board extended the proposed moratorium from 90 days to six months after hearing neighbors' concerns about a potential data center development on local farmland.
"You'll find that most people here are opposed to the AI data center for one reason or another," one neighbor said during public comment.
Another neighbor expressed concern about making decisions without complete information, saying, "People are making a lot of decisions and a lot of assumptions based on what could be, and we don't have a site plan. We don't know what they actually want to do."
Township Supervisor Robert Ellick said his position on data centers is neutral.
"I couldn't care less if I have a data center. Don't care one iota, one way or another, right now. Never have, never had the need for one, never even heard the word until last summer, sometime," Ellick said.
The Right Place, an economic development agency, has been assisting developers in finding sites for data center construction. One location under consideration is property west of Highway 131 between 16 and 17 Mile roads, behind the Cedarfield neighborhood.
Anna Feldpausch, a member of the Stop Solon Township Data Center group, called the moratorium a good first step but said their opposition efforts are just beginning.
"The goal is to let people know, like awareness, because there are still a lot of people in the community who aren't even aware that this is happening. Continued awareness, educating people, hoping to get other townships involved, giving them, maybe, inspiration to be able to start their own websites and, you know, fight back against things like this coming into their township," Feldpausch said.
Some residents acknowledged that progress can be positive while questioning whether a data center is appropriate for their community.
"Progress isn't bad. Progress is a good thing. However, I'm not sure if this is the progress we need," one resident said.
Another added, "This is not the right place to put an industrial-scale data center."
During the moratorium period, the Stop Solon Township Data Center group plans to continue gathering signatures and distributing yard signs in opposition.
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