A local planning commission has recommended denying a large-scale data center proposal outside Detroit, Michigan.

Local press, including WHMI and Livingstone Daily, report Stantec Consulting Michigan and Randee LLC have requested to rezone nearly 1,000 acres in Howell Township for a data center campus.

Full details on the planned data centers weren’t shared, but local reports suggest up to ten single-story buildings are being proposed.

However, the Howell Township planning commission voted unanimously to recommend denying the proposal this week. The final decision will be made by the township board at a later date; the Livingston County planning commission will also make a recommendation to the Howell Township board.

Howell Township, in Livingston County, is some 60 miles (96.5km) northwest of downtown Detroit. The commission cited changes needed to the township master plan in order to approval the project as one of the reasons for rejection during a marathon seven-hour meeting.

An unnamed “Fortune 100 technology firm that develops, owns, and operates technology campuses globally as an end user and owner/operator” –likely one of the large hyperscale cloud providers – is set to be the end-user of the campus if it goes ahead. Evaluation work for the site has reportedly been going on since mid-2024.

The project would include across numerous parcels east of Handy Township along Marr Road, Fleming Road, Warner Road and Owosso Road. The parcels that make up the site are currently zoned as AR – Agricultural Residential, SFR – Single Family Residential, and NSC – Neighborhood Service Commercial and would be rezoned to RT – Research and Technology.

Much of the land in question is owned by local farmer Ryan Van Gilder, who called the project a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to welcome one of the largest and most respected companies in the world to our hometown.”

As is becoming increasingly common with large-scale data center proposals in largely rural areas, local residents are unhappy with the plans. A Change.org petition - Stop the Construction of Michigan's Largest Data Center in Howell – has garnered more than 2,100 signatures at time of writing. The 2020 census put the township’s population at just under 7,900.

“This data center would drastically change Howell as we know it, using massive amounts of energy, polluting our beautiful rural environment, and increasing energy costs for residents,” the petition states.

A Facebook group, Stop the Data Centers – Livingston County, has also been set up with around 1,300 members.

Operators around Detroit include EdgeConneX, US Signal, Cogent, 365, Lumen, Verizon, and several local providers, including 123Net.

Thor Equities is seeking to develop an 800-acre campus in Washtenaw County’s Augusta Township, and has faced pushback from local officials. Related Digital is proposing to develop a 2.2 million sq ft (204,385 sqm) campus in Saline Township, Washtenaw County.