Many residents in Van Buren Township are making it clear they oppose a new data center at Haggerty and I-275. But it may be very difficult to stop.
The data center wasn’t on the agenda of the Township Board of Trustees meeting, but it was the only thing anyone wanted to talk about. A line of residents expressed their opposition.
Supervisor Kevin McNamara says he sympathizes but isn’t sure it can be stopped due to the parcel’s zoning.
“I hate zoning laws! I hate them! I hate them! I hate them! They’re made up by people that were (here) 40 or 50 years ago. They decided where things were going to go, and they weren’t going to go, how things were going to be done. It just seems like every single time we have a problem, like this one, it’s because we are stuck with these zoning laws.”
McNamara says the zoning includes data centers as an allowable use. Power, water and wetlands issues will need to be addressed, but McNamara says all of those are beyond the township’s authority.
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