Lansing City Council sets public hearing for data center moratorium

LANSING — City Council will host a July 13 public hearing on a proposed 182-day data center moratorium, Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope said.

A proposed moratorium introduced in April came 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 draft 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.”

The proposal was submitted by Councilmember Ryan Kost, who 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.

However, many residents had 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.

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.

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 sets public hearing for data center moratorium

Reporting by Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal

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By Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network