The Gaines Township Planning Commission intended to host a public hearing on Thursday, Dec. 18, to discuss the rezoning of a property owned by Microsoft in the township, but the meeting was canceled due to overcapacity.
Gaines Township is a suburb located directly south of Grand Rapids.
Hundreds of people from Gaines Township and the surrounding area packed the township hall Thursday night, overwhelming its max capacity of 250 and forcing the planning commission to postpone the public hearing until it can find a bigger venue.
Microsoft requested to have the parcel at 7174 Patterson Ave. rezoned from large-scale planned unit development to light industrial, which will match the zoning of a light industrial parcel directly south of the property. The two parcels will be used together to support a data center, according to planning commission documents.
The parcel is part of 316 acres on the northwest corner of Patterson Avenue and 76th Street, which Microsoft bought from Steelcase in October 2024 for $45.3 million.
Microsoft has not yet submitted formal plans for the site, but the recent reveal that it will be a data center has caused enough of a stir among residents.
“These centers are really an industrial revolution: part 2, with no regulation, no thought for the community behind it, and we’re really hoping for a statewide moratorium,” said Eddie Chaffer, a resident of Kent County who runs environmental nonprofit Pleasant Peninsula.
Despite being primarily concerned with the environmental impacts of data centers, Chaffer said he believes it’s a bipartisan issue.
“People who are typically right-leaning — hunters, anglers, farmers — and people on the left like environmentalists and community activists; this is something we all agree on because it is so universally bad for Michiganders,” Chaffer said.
Data centers are basically warehouses of computer hardware for servers, data storage and network equipment that are used to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
They’ve been in Michigan for a while now. The Switch Pyramid is the most prominent one in Kent County. But recent investments in “hyperscale” data centers to sustain the AI bubble have drawn criticism because they use significant electricity and water to power and cool their servers and equipment.
Andrew Collins lives on the border of Kentwood and Gaines Township and frequently rides the bike path that runs along the Microsoft property.
He said he came to Thursday night’s meeting prepared to deliver a lengthy screed against the environmental impacts and shady politics behind data centers, but he was excited by the huge and disruptive turnout from residents.
“This is a sign that data centers need public engagement,” Collins said. “Corporations with their billions of dollars cannot be allowed to set a precedent that they can just steamroll a project.”
Across the state, residents in various, mostly rural communities have been turning out in huge numbers at meetings where developers pitch data center projects.
Chaffer said he believes tech companies are targeting these communities because they believe it’s an easy gambit.
“They’re targeting rural communities, they’re targeting people that they consider lower education or lower income so they can hopefully sneak something in the back door and something like this where hundreds of people show up doesn’t happen,” he said.
A similar phenomenon happened only a week ago in Lowell Township when residents shut down a public hearing regarding a project led by an unnamed company. Shortly after, township officials confirmed the developer behind the project asked the township for a delay in the approval process.
Tech companies have taken a keen interest in Michigan for a number of reasons. At a high level, the state has the energy capacity and industrial infrastructure to accommodate them.
Recent legislation is another big factor. In 2024, Michigan lawmakers passed tax breaks exempting large data center equipment and construction material from the state’s sales and use tax. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the law, and it took effect in April.
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