LANSING — Lansing City Council voted 7-1 to place a 182-day moratorium on data centers in the city after listening to concerned residents at a Monday, July 13, public hearing.
Councilmember Ryan Kost, the Ward 1 representative who proposed the moratorium in the spring, said most of the approximately 15 people who spoke during the hearing urged council to put the moratorium in place and some wanted ground rules in place even if data centers are the wave of the future.
“I am happy it is in place,” Kost said on Tuesday, July 14. “Data centers are moving very quickly. We need to get those ground rules in place.”
At-large Councilmember Jeremy Garza voted against the moratorium, Kost said. Garza could not immediately be reached for comment.
Kost proposed the moratorium several months after Deep Green, a United Kingdom-based company, proposed a $120 million data center for downtown. The company withdrew its proposal hours before City Council had expected to vote following weeks of pushback from residents and some members of council.
“A temporary moratorium on new Data Centers beginning operations after the effective date of this ordinance, until the City has completed its study and recommendation of zoning amendments to address Data Centers, is in the best interest of the public health, safety, and welfare of City residents,” the moratorium ordinance says. “For a period of 182 days from the effective date of this ordinance, the City will not issue any building permits, nor process applications for zoning amendments, for any Data Centers as a primary or accessory use.”
Kost has said in a statement that he’s working with Councilmember Deyanira Nevarez Martinez and “the city attorney’s office to develop a robust set of guidelines, which will serve as a foundational element for crafting a sustainable solution.”
Deep Green’s proposed downtown data center had been pitched by the company, the Lansing Board of Water & Light, Mayor Andy Schor’s administration and some in the business community as a positive and necessary step for the city.
Deep Green had proposed building a two-story, 25,000-square-foot data center on four lots on Kalamazoo Street between Cedar and Larch streets, about two blocks south of the city’s minor league baseball stadium. The project would have required a conditional rezoning and the sale of public land.
However, many residents pushed back for months, including during City Council meetings that included hours of public comment. The majority who voiced opposition told council they were concerned about the environmental impacts, a lack of transparency from BWL about power for the data center and questioned whether a data center was a good fit for the downtown area, among other issues.
Similarly, residents in Mason and surrounding townships have raised concerns about data centers and a still-unidentified developer approaching Mason officials to possibly build a hyperscale data center on about 400 acres in neighboring Vevay Township, on the northeast corner of Columbia and College roads.
Township trustees unanimously rejected the idea of entering discussions to explore a Public Act 425 agreement involving a conditional land use transfer at a June 10 meeting.
Mason City Manager Deborah Stuart has said the property owner has plans to pursue annexation with the State Boundary Commission.
Contact editor Susan Vela at svela@lsj.com or 248-873-7044. Follow her on Twitter @susanvela.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing City Council OKs data center moratorium. What’s next?
Reporting by Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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By Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
