The Lansing Planning Commission is delaying moving forward with zoning a controversial data center. It’s one of several proposed data center projects sparking debates across the state.
On Wednesday night, people packed into a conference room and down the hallway to hear about rezoning a downtown parking lot to build the data center.
It would take up less than an acre of land between Cedar and Larch streets and would stand two stories tall. That makes it significantly smaller than contentious data centers planned in Howell and Saline Township.
Its size isn’t the only difference.
England-based Deep Green, the company behind the proposed data center, said its data centers are environmentally conscious – and would be the first of its kind the United States.
The company plans to partner with the Lansing Board of Water and Light. The heat generated by the data center would be looped into the BWL’s hot water system.
That would replace some of the heat generated by natural gas, reducing carbon emissions at the same rate as removing 3,000 cars from the road annually, according to the BWL.
The data center would not use much water because it would use a closed-loop cooling system, according to the company.
It is expected to bring in around 35 jobs during construction and 15 to operate the center afterwards.
Deep Green also plans to donate up to $120,000 annually to charities like BWL’s Pennies for Power.
If approved, construction will start in the spring.
But community members voiced concerns over the project at the Lansing Planning Commission meeting Wednesday evening.
Arianna Brown said she feels like the commission doesn’t have enough information to say yes to rezoning the parking lot for the data center.
“Why can't [Deep Green] have public meetings? Why can't they put out brochures, give people the information, so that it's not just all of us crowding into a room for several hours? Let's do an actual formal process, so that we can have a back-and-forth dialogue,” Brown said during the meeting.
Matthew Stone worries that a data center will raise utility bills.
“I think it’s important for the commission to ensure that Deep Green’s proposed plans include protections for our residents,” Stone said.
During the meeting, a spokesperson for the BWL said the data center would not directly increase utility costs for Lansing residents and that the company said it’d take on extra costs.
She added that the data center fits in the existing power grid, so they wouldn’t need to add more energy sources.
James Blair was on the Lansing City Council in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. He said he has a different vision for the parking lot.
“We've been trying to develop the Capital Loop for the last 35 years,” Blair said. “It brings people down off of the freeway onto Larch Street and takes them down to Michigan Avenue, where they turn toward the capital."
“This piece of property was bought with the idea of having something spectacular at that corner as an entrance into downtown,” he said. “And this doesn't fit.”
Blair said the data center should be built off Verlinden Avenue, where Fisher Body used to be.
He said people "use the parking lot all the time," including during events downtown and Lansing Lugnuts games.
Other community members supporting the project said it would draw in economic opportunities and industry to Lansing.
Mark Lee is the CEO of Deep Green. Lee said he expected the large turnout for Wednesday’s meeting – it’s a complex project with lots of community engagement, he said.
“Today was the start of a process for us in terms of engaging with the community, engaging with Lansing, and going through the process of hopefully getting rezoning for the data center,” Lee said.
The Planning Commission will vote on whether to approve zoning the project at its next meeting on Dec. 2.
