Ypsilanti Township residents oppose University of Michigan data center plan

For the first time, University of Michigan leaders participated in a town hall discussion on Wednesday night about plans for a high-performance research computing center in Ypsilanti Township. 

This project has received tons of backlash from the community, and tonight was no different. A panel of speakers addressed a room full of very angry residents who say their complaints are falling on deaf ears regarding this controversial partnership between UofM and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. 

"If a community does not want something, you should stand up for the community," said one community member.

Residents made it clear that they want no part in the $1.2 billion research computing facility that U of M and the Los Alamos National Laboratory are collaborating on. 

A panel of university leaders and project experts could barely get a word in on Wednesday evening as dozens of upset people yelled about the project.

"Some of you are listening to me, so I'll just keep talking to you. Some of us want those answers, and we know that to get them it's going to take really strong and big abilities to do computing, said Patricia Hurn, a U of M interim vice president for Research and Innovation.

The facility is proposed to be built on a 144-acre site along the Huron River in Ypsilanti, and those who live near the location spoke up about their concerns about what it could do to their home value — the local water, the noise and more. 

One resident said, "It's a monstrosity that you're building less than a mile from my home that I just purchased, and now my taxes are going to be quadrupling."

Another woman at the Town Hall said, "Honestly, I find a lot of parallels to what is happening here and what happened in Flint."

The university says the facility promises innovation in medicine, clean energy, engineering, and national security through large-scale computer modeling and simulations. 

"So what we have tried to do is to really work with our local community and figure out what their priorities are and then help to support those priorities. It's a dialogue," said Chris Kolb, the U of M vice president for Government Relations.

The next town hall will be on Oct. 1.