Ypsilanti Township officials have decided to allow data centers only on land zoned for industrial and commercial revitalization uses. Would-be developers could propose a data center as a special land use in those zoning districts. Data centers will not be allowed on land in the township zoned for any other uses.
The Ypsilanti Board of Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday, Dec. 16 to amend the township’s zoning ordinance to reflect the change in rules.
When the township adopted its most recent zoning ordinance in 2022, data centers were smaller and required less power than the hyperscale data centers some Big Tech giants are currently trying to build across the state.
“Data and Computing Centers were much smaller in size 5-10 years ago as data wasn’t processed at the size and scale it is today,” township planning director Mark Yandrick wrote in a memo.
“There has been an increased demand nationwide for data and computing centers as both data and artificial intelligence (AI) research, development, and storage has increased,” Yandrick said.
“These larger facilities require significantly more electricity and water, which also can impact the surrounding environment, as well as the capacity of these utilities,” he said. “Data and computing centers could also generate noise that could negatively affect nearby residential neighborhoods.”
Data centers constitute “a more intense land use” that is “incompatible” with areas zoned for lighter industry, neighborhood services, and other uses, Yandrick concluded.
No commercial hyperscale data centers are currently proposed in Ypsilanti Township.
However, township officials have been pushing back against a smaller, non-commercial “high-performance computing facility” the University of Michigan is pursuing in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory, which was announced late last year.
In that case, the township’s newly approved limitations of where data centers can go do not apply. That’s due to laws that exempt the University of Michigan and Los Alamos from local building and zoning laws.
But the new local restrictions would apply to any other data center proposals that might come into the township in the future that are not exempt from local control.
Locating data centers on existing industrial brownfield sites “is most appropriate,” and would “minimize impact” to the township and “also have greater access to existing utilities and infrastructure,” Yandrick wrote in the memo.
The university has been looking to purchase land off Textile Road in the township, potentially as a site for the facility. It would power classified federal government research and non-classified university research in a wide variety of sciences and technologies. The university also previously announced it was reentering negotiations on the former site of a General Motors facility west of Willow Run Airport in the township.
Ypsilanti Township officials have pushed back against locating the university’s project with Los Alamos on Textile Road, asking that the facility go on land they say would be more fit for a data center.
At an Ypsilanti Township board meeting in August, township officials unanimously passed a motion that directed the township’s planning commission to start the process of restricting data centers to industrial and commercial redevelopment areas. At that same meeting, they also passed a resolution opposing siting the university and Los Alamos project on Textile Road.
Most recently, Michigan Rep. Jimmie Wilson Jr. (D-32) introduced a bill aiming to rescind a $100 million grant awarded last year by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC). Ypsilanti Township is also asking the state to claw back the grant to the university.
Although the project was initially proposed to MEDC as approximately 20 acres, the university’s Board of Regents approved the purchase of an additional 124 acres in June, after receiving the grant.
“The University of Michigan opposes any effort to rescind funds that are advancing one of the State of Michigan’s highest research priorities and fully intends to deliver on the commitments made under SOAR,” Chris Kolb, the university’s vice president of government relations, said in a statement.
The legislative effort to rescind the funds is based on “inaccurate information,” Kolb said.
“The university is moving as efficiently as possible — with external infrastructure partners and subject-matter experts — to complete site reviews responsibly and with due diligence," he said.
A final decision on where the computing facility would go will come “after comprehensive reviews are complete,” he said. “The university has also met with Ypsilanti Township leaders numerous times over the past year and we have shared information as the technical evaluations are completed.”
©2025 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit mlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
