Livingston County group calls for moratorium against rezoning land for data center
About a month ago, the Howell Township board decided against rezoning an area of land for a new data center. Still, some residents are pushing for a moratorium to prevent it.
Howell resident Lauren Prebenda, who is helping lead the charge against the potential data center, says she and other community members feel that the project has been going full steam ahead since its proposal.
Prebenda says she wants to see a pause to give residents more time to consider the impact of placing a data center in Livingston County. Data centers are often used to store the servers that hold large amounts of data and information.
"The immediate goal is to demand that the Howell Township Board enact at minimum a six-month moratorium on rezoning applications related to data centers or data processing," Prebenda said. "It's a project of such magnitude that it has the potential to change the entirety of not just Howell but all of Livingston County," she said.
The initial proposal, which was voted down by the Howell Township board in September, would have created one of the largest data centers in the state on about 1,000 acres of land owned by the Van Gilder family.
"It feels like there has been a lack of transparency and information both from the developer and also from our local officials," Prebenda said.
So far, it's been unclear which company is behind the data center project. Residents claimed that a major social media site is behind the development. CBS News Detroit reached out to confirm, but for the moment, the developer is undisclosed.
Prebenda said she hopes to see even more people show up at the next township board meeting on Nov. 10 to continue pressing officials for a moratorium.
"It is our only responsible and ethical path forward," she said.