This story is made possible through a partnership between Interlochen Public Radio and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
Garfield Township has banned data centers and cryptocurrency mining facilities for a year.
The Township Board unanimously approved a temporary moratorium on Tuesday, which Township Supervisor Joe McManus said will allow officials to better plan for future proposals.
“It was kind of refreshing to see us take a topic and run with it, and have the universal acceptance and support of the public like we’ve had," McManus said. "They came out in great numbers and showed that the path that the planning commission and the town board took was the right path and what the community wanted. So we’re pretty happy about that.”
In July, residents packed a township zoning meeting to express concerns about how data centers could impact water, electric rates and the environment.
Moratoriums aren’t included in the state law that regulates local zoning, said John Sych, township planning director at the July meeting. The Garfield Township Planning Commission recommended an amendment to the zoning ordinance that would allow for such temporary bans.
It's stronger than enacting them through a standalone ordinance or resolution, as other townships have done, Sych said in July.
"There are municipalities that did knee-jerk moratoriums that are being challenged and losing in court because they didn't go through the process that we went through," McManus said before the moratorium was put to a board vote.
Garfield Township's ban will be for a year, with an option to extend for six more months if the board deems it necessary down the line.
The temporary ban likely stalls proposed plans brought by Illinois-based developer Tom Cervenka to repurpose a building on Cass Road for a small-scale data center. Cervenka brought up a proposal at a previous township board meeting. Incomplete site plans were submitted last month, according to The Ticker.
"The proposal would retain the existing building and infrastructure while generating very limited traffic and incorporating specific noise, screening, and mitigation commitments," Cervenka said in a previous email to IPR detailing the project plans.
Garfield Township joins a growing number of northern Michigan municipalities passing temporary bans on data centers.
The state is already home to about 75 such centers of such centers, which house computer servers underpinning the internet.
None of those are large "hyperscale" data centers which power artificial intelligence models. But such a center is under development in southeast Michigan, and the specter of more has prompted local officials across the state to issue temporary bans on any development.
It’s against Michigan law to completely ban specific land uses.
