The Ypsilanti City Council Tuesday gave preliminary approval to an emergency moratorium on providing any new zoning permits for data centers.
The 60-day moratorium gives city staff an opportunity to further study their potential negative impacts.
Ypsilanti City Council member Patrick McLean admits the ordinance has little practical effect.
“I think what this all highlights is the state of Michigan has really straightjacketed its cities, it’s limited our ability to restrict data centers, and this lack of transparency has really at least partially, maybe significantly responsible for the stridency of the opposition of these data centers.”
The ordinance requires another reading before being passed in final form by the city. The council also suggested more opportunities are needed for public comment on the centers.
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