Meridian Township board members adopted a six-month data center and battery storage facility moratorium during their most recent board meeting on May 19.
The community is one among 50 others in the state that have enacted data center moratoria. Some moratoria span 180 days while others last for an entire year.
MLive reporters calculated that Michigan moratoria span over 1,500 square miles of land— the size of Rhode Island.
Meridian Township's moratorium is a preemptive measure, and was done to protect the community amid concerns data centers bring like groundwater and power usage, said Scott Hendrickson, Meridian Township supervisor.
"This is our way of pushing the pause button on any possible data centers that might attempt to be interested in our community," he said.
Hendrickson said there are no proposals currently from any developers in Meridian Township. The moratorium will allow community staff and attorneys the time to draft permanent regulations.
"This is always meant to be temporary," Hendrickson said.
Other communities across the state could adopt additional moratoria.
Communities like Allendale and even Detroit are considering implementing their own temporary limits on data center developments.
Allendale's, if adopted, would last a year and include battery storage facilities, large-scale solar farms and wind farms. The township's board will vote on the proposal on June 8.
Detroit City Council passed a 6-2 resolution earlier this year urging the mayor to implement a two-year moratorium.