Meridian Township Board Members will consider adopting a data center and battery storage facility moratorium during a meeting on Thursday, May 7.
During a Township Board Meeting on April 7, members discussed whether Meridian Township's land is for data center developers.
Tim Schmitt, community planning and development director, said there are not currently any proposed data center projects in Meridian Township.
"This does not exist. This is a proactive discussion. We have no indication that anything like this is coming. We have no indication that anyone is interested in this for the township," he said.
He also said Meridian Township does not have large plots of industrial land eligible for development, meaning a hyper-scale data center in the community is not possible.
Schmitt said if there were to be any data center, it would be much smaller in size, similar to the recently canceled project in Lansing.
"Realistically, if someone were to look at something like this, it would be more along the lines of the Deep Green facility," he said.
It is more likely that a hyper-scale data center would be built in Bath Township because there is more land, and it's cheaper, Schmitt said.
He said that the township cannot implement a moratorium without having a specific plan or "endgame" as to what the moratorium is for—including a duration of time.
"It's not just 'we don't want this right now,' it's 'we need time to develop the following,'" Schmitt said.
Board supervisor Scott Hendrickson said he brought the topic before the board because of issues happening in other Michigan communities like Lansing, Mason, Saline and Howell Township.
"The reason why I was looking to chat about moratoriums, specifically, is because what I feel like we have seen across the state is a propensity to buy up property, eliminate the existing use and convert into a data center or a battery storage facility," he said.
Hendrickson said nothing is stopping a developer from buying land from existing developments in the township and opening up more acreage for a larger data center facility.
He said a moratorium will prevent this from happening while they "establish some very serious guardrails and put them in place."
Some board members said they don't want a moratorium because there is no active development or proposed development happening.
Trustee Peter Trezise said creating a moratorium may be "putting the cart before the horse."
He said he is interested in putting other protective guidelines in place first, in case a developer does come to the township in the future.