LYON TWP. – Plans for a massive 1.8 million-square-foot data center in the township could be swirling the drain.
Project Flex, which includes six buildings on 172 acres owned by Walbridge in South Hill Business Park West, was approved by the planning commission last fall as a permitted use in the industrial district.
But on May 4 the township board, which is facing a possible recall from residents angry over the data center, threw a wrench in the plan, unanimously voting to deny easements on township-owned property which would have allowed Walbridge and the Oakland County Water Resource Commission to clear trees and install a future drain bypass.
Trustee Sean O’Neil made the motion to deny, saying simply that the easement and bypass “are not currently in the best interests of the township.”
George Holton, an attorney representing Walbridge, expressed frustration, saying that the proposed drain improvements that would benefit the entire township and to be funded by Walbridge had been supported by township officials for nearly a decade until just recently.
“Failures of the drain have moved from a theoretical floodplain to a giant red blob covering half the township,” Holton said. “If nothing else, solving this flooding would be enough to justify the support. Why wouldn’t the township want to alleviate flooding for such a substantial portion of residents? Is it public pressure over Project Flex?”
Holton contended the data center project, which has mired the township in controversy the past several months with residents protesting over water, noise, electricity usage and environmental impacts, was “irrelevant” to the discussion about the easement. He added that approving the easement for drain improvements “doesn’t mean Project Flex moves forward” and that is isn’t the “last domino to fall.”
But it appears that without the easement and drain bypass, Project Flex can’t move forward.
Township Engineer Leslie Zawada said the Walbridge property in the South Hill West Business Park where the data center is planned cannot be developed without the drain improvements.
“The drain would need to be cleaned out (and) the bypass would be necessary for capacity for them to develop this land regardless of what (the development) is,” she said, adding that the soils are not conducive to a retention basin.
In an April 2 letter to the township board regarding the easement and bypass, Zawada noted the significant impact of the floodplain within the New Hudson area of the township, south of Grand River and said a bypass channel was needed to eliminate the floodplain from properties in the area, as well as allow for the construction of the southeast ring road.
Township and county officials have long acknowledged the drain problems in the area, but as Supervisor John Dolan noted at the board’s May 4 meeting, “nobody could afford” the roughly $3-4 million to fix them.
Walbridge had offered to pay for it and Amanda Shaughnessy, general counsel for Walbridge, said in an email that the company had already made “significant investments in onsite and offsite infrastructure upgrades to benefit the entire township.”
Holton said at the meeting that $7 million had been spent and $4.5 million was budgeted for remaining improvements and while it was not the responsibility of Walbridge, it was something the company had agreed to undertake a decade prior when developing the South Hill property. Without the approval for the easement and bypass to do the drain improvements, Holton said the cost would be passed on to residents “because the county is going to take on this project and county is going to bond it out.”
O’Neil called that “hyperbole,” adding that the problem had existed for 60 years and the county couldn’t force the township to pay for it.
The Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash’s Office confirmed that O’Neil is correct,
“A private developer has offered to fund the drainage improvements. If the Lyon Township Board does not grant the requested easement, the improvement project cannot move forward at this time,” Nash’s office said in a statement. “If this happens, existing drainage concerns may continue. Any future improvement would need to be funded by residents and would require a formal petition process under Michigan law. Our focus remains on protecting public infrastructure and supporting drainage solutions that benefit residents, independent of any development decision.”
Trustee Lise Blades said she, like other board members, wants the drain improvements, but objected to tree clearing that had already been done at the Oakland/Southwest Airport in preparation for drain cleaning.
“You have left piles and piles of trees on the airport property,” she said, calling it “obscene” and adding that an offer of $1 as compensation to the township for use of an easement was “unacceptable.”
In a phone call, Trustee Robert Swain explained he also voted to deny the easement because there were “too many open questions remaining around the timing and exact scope of the project, including what the restoration would look like,” including permanent changes wrought by removing trees on property the township recently acquired.
Shaughnessy said the township’s denial sends “a chilling signal to every developer and future development in Lyon Township that the rules can change without warning.”
She finished her email with perhaps a chilling signal of her own: “The Township has told us we cannot use our property for any purpose until these drain improvements are completed, and this easement was the means of completing them. With that path closed, we are left with no choice but to exhaust every avenue available to us for resolution.”
Contact reporter Susan Bromley at sbromley@hometownlife.com.
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: Lyon Township denies easement for data center site improvements
Reporting by Susan Bromley, Hometownlife.com / Hometownlife.com
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