MICHIGAN (WOWO) — A mid-Michigan township has formally rejected a proposed data center that developers had only just begun presenting to the public, delivering a unanimous rebuke before the project even reached the zoning process. The Delhi Township Board of Trustees voted 6-0 Friday to oppose the proposed facility and cited what it called overwhelming community opposition. Township Supervisor Eddie Montemayor also called on the developers to stop their efforts, accusing Colorado-based Lighthouse Sustainability of harassing residents with phone calls and misleading mailers. The vote came just three days after the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, known as LEAP, and Lighthouse announced plans to explore a data center campus on 423 acres near Holt, just west of U.S. 127. The developers had proposed a facility with up to one gigawatt of computing capacity and a potential price tag exceeding $10 billion. But the project had not yet been formally submitted to the township, and developers had not applied to rezone the property. The land is not currently zoned industrial. Any data center development would require township approval to change that zoning. Delhi Township also has a 12-month moratorium on data centers that runs through April. The developers had pledged to spend the coming months seeking public input through weekly meetings and a residential advisory committee. They said they would abandon the project if the community did not support it. That process never got far. Residents packed a township meeting Friday, with most speaking against the proposal. Their concerns included noise, views from a nearby lakeside park and the broader consequences of artificial intelligence and the massive computing facilities that support it. Some residents, however, urged trustees not to reject a project before it had been formally proposed or fully examined. They questioned whether the loudest early opposition represented the entire community. The developers had promoted the project as a major economic investment. Their projections included roughly $53 million in annual local tax revenue, 100 permanent on-site jobs and 1,000 temporary construction jobs. They also proposed a $20 million community benefits agreement. Early plans called for powering the facility with a combination of renewable energy and battery storage, along with a closed-loop cooling system designed to reduce water use. Developers also discussed installing rooftop solar panels and batteries at participating homes, which they said could cut those residents’ energy bills by as much as 50%. LEAP declined to comment on what the township’s resolution means for the proposal. The economic development agency had already ended its partnership with Delhi Township on Wednesday. The property is owned by a holding company associated with DTN Management, but LEAP holds an option to purchase it. The agency has spent years preparing the 423-acre site for industrial development, using a $6.5 million grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. LEAP President and CEO Bob Trezise said the site-preparation work would continue even if the data center proposal does not move forward, with the property remaining a candidate for other industrial development. Delhi Township is the latest Michigan community to push back against data center development, as proposals for large computing campuses face growing scrutiny over their effects on neighborhoods, energy use, water resources and local infrastructure. The post Michigan township votes unanimously against proposed $10 billion data center appeared first on WOWO News/Talk 92.3 FM and 1190 AM. ...read more read less