A handful of north Macomb County residents opposed to data centers in their communities voiced their concerns to county commissioners, and asked them to pass a moratorium on centers and help local communities fight them.
“We need you guys to step into the fight. I need my commissioners to step into the fray,” said Tarra Samander, who owns a farm near I-94 and 26 Mile Road in Lenox Township and said she and her husband rejected an offer of $500,000 from a data-center developer as a 10% deposit to purchase their property.
Residents spoke Thursday during the public-participation agenda item at the full county Board of Commissioners meeting in the Administration Building in Mount Clemens.
Commissioner MIchael Howard of Warren said during commissioner comments that while the county can’t help them with a moratorium they can provide some expertise and assistance through county planners.
“The county has very, very, very limited zoning and land authority” under state law,” Howard said. “This is truly a local municipality issue as well as a state issue.”
There are currently three potential AI data center developments in the county in Lenox, and Washington and Richmond townships. Lenox is closest to development at this time.
Also speaking was Arianna Welsh, who resides in Bruce Township but owns property in Lenox and Richmond, and runs a business in New Haven. Welsh asked commissioners to “expand and better coordinate technical assistance available to our 27 local communities when evaluating major and emerging developments.”
“There is urgency to this request,” Welsh told the board. “Industry is not waiting for local governments to catch up. Communities are being approached now with increasingly large and complex projects.”
The projects involve rezonings, master plan updates, development agreements, infrastructure commitments, environmental impacts, road-capacity considerations and tax implications on properties for “hundreds of acres” and “hundreds or millions or even billions of dollars,” Welsh said.
“The window to obtain specialized expertise can become very short,” she said. “The county does not need to make decisions for communities, but it can give them better tools, though, to help themselves.”
The assistance could be provided through the county planning department, Welsh said.
Commissioner Phil Kraft of Chesterfield Township, located adjacent to Lenox, said he sent a letter many months ago to Lenox officials asking them to work with New Haven on a moratorium on data centers together but that didn’t happen.”
“I think it would’ve been in our communities’ best interests for them to work together,” Kraft said at the meeting. “I have a lot of the same concerns that you do.”
Lenox passed a 4-month moratorium last February that expired without renewal after attorney James R. Andary, representing a company called Lenox & Chesterfield Economic Development Alliance, a data-center developer, threatened a lawsuit in May. It was registered by Paul Reschke.
“Our Client has expended substantial time, capital and professional resources to develop a large-scaled, phased technology infrastructure complex .. a proposed Data Center Campus would be generally located on the I-94 Development District,” Andary wrote In a May 4 letter to the township obtained by The Macomb Daily. “Under Michigan Law, Lenox Township cannot use zoning laws or a moratorium to ban or block either temporarily or permanently, a lawful land development use. I must emphasize the Campus and the Data Center is a lawful development use of the property that is owned or controlled by my Client.
“We have been authorized to pursue legal action to not only seek injunctive relief, but also substantial economic damages from Lenox Township if the moratorium is extended.”
According to another letter in May, the company again threatened a lawsuit if the township delayed efforts to draft the I-94 Development District ordinance, which has been subject of a first reading but was sent back by the township Board of Trustees to the township Planning Commission for more work.
A web site has been created in support of the project, touting the benefits that would come to the area.
State anti-data center forms
Companies’ efforts to build data centers in Michigan spawned the creation of the Economic Development Responsibility Alliance of Michigan, which is helping local communities fight the centers and tracking close to three-dozen projects in the state, including in Lenox and Washington.
“We’re pretty much across the board opposed to AI data centers,” said Marjorie Steele, executive director of the EDRA. “Based on what we are seeing … it’s become increasingly clear at this point that the purpose of these data centers is not the stated purpose they’re being marketed for. The reason that these data centers need such computing power and why they need such exponentially greater processing power than the standard internet and cloud-computering centers that we’ve had for decades is they’re trying to build a surveillance state.”
Steele also pointed to the recent increased use of license-plate readers and AI software for surveillance.
“We believe that local communities and local township can and should use any and all reasonable, legal means at their disposal to protect themselves, and that includes zoning and regulation,” she said.
The organization says AI or “hyperscale” data cents consume large amount of water and energy; create only a minimal number of jobs post-construction; increase the risk of water contamination and “well depletion”; increase the number and level of power outages in the surrounding area; are “susceptible to toxic fires”; and receiving funds from the state and federal government.
Of 34 potential sites in Michigan, the EDRA says it is “fighting” 13 projects, “winning” 12 and “won but vigilant” at nine sites, including Washington Township, where the developer withdrew the project last May.
Statewide, a data center is operational in Dowagiac in southwest Michigan and under construction by OpenAI and Oracle is a $7-billion facility called “The Barn,” in Saline Township in Washtenaw County, Steele said. Projects are also in pursuit in Ypsilanti, Marshall, Lyon, Mason, Gaines, Oakland University and Auburn Hills.
The EDRA says there have been 98 data-center moratoriums passed by communities.
Potential Macomb County sites
In Washington, Prologis, a potential data center site developer, submitted a conditional rezoning application for the development of a technical campus and data center over 312 acres in November 2025. The land, which included four parcels, is on the south side of 32 Mile Road, between M-53 and Powell Road.
But the company withdrew it – to the applause of residents at a township meeting – last May, the same month Washington officials approved a six-month moratorium on the acceptance, processing or approval of data center facilities. The moratorium was to last either six months or until the planning commission developed a relevant ordinance amendment.
In Richmond Township, a data center company, Clean Cloud Energy, inquired about locating a facility there in January 2026, according to Steele. The township in February 2026 passed a one-year moratorium.
“Richmond (township) has been on our radar” buthas not progressed beyond the initial contact, Steele said.”We see this very often in these development projects – not just the mega-sites but others – once the community gets a media push and then there’s a recall, the the developer kind of sits back and cools their heels and thinks about what they’re doing.”
But she also noted, she’s heard of developer’s fighting back.
“We’ve heard tales of them being quite aggressive,” such as sending people to community meetings to push their side or visit residents door-to-door.
Lenox Township squabble
In Lenox, the project would be located within a district with the general boundaries northwest of I-94, west of County Line Road from north of 26 Mile Road to 28 Mile Road, and east of the New Haven border.
Many Lenox residents allege officials are catering to the data center company and are being secretive, not revealing whether they have non-disclosure agreements with the developer.
The issue has led to raucous board meetings and residents filing numerous recall petitions, ultimately gaining approval of two by the county Election Commission. One is being pursued.
Mark Grabow, the deputy township supervisor and not a board member, said the board is seeking to “protect the township” from litigation by a data center or any other type of developer and “trying to make sure things are done right so the township has guardrails and safety elements down the road and in the future.”
One recall petition targets all five board members: Supervisor Anthony Reeder, Clerk Michelle Gurley, Treasurer Jennifer Sutherland and trustees Joe Rosseel and Joe Marino. Organizers say the officials voted May 4 “to enter into a closed session without specific justification required by the Michigan Open Meetings Act, thereby improperly concealing public business behind a vague claim of privilege.”
The officials have filed a challenge to the election commission’s approval in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens.
Legal briefs have been filed by the officials and the commission. The case is slated for oral arguments on Oct. 26 in front of Judge James Maceroni.
Welsh, one of the recall organizers, said the group started collecting signatures Sept. 14 and have 60 days to collect 1,111 signatures. She said they plan to collect 1,800 to ensure there are enough valid signatures.
Language for a second petition was also approved and will be used as a “plan B,” Welsh said, in case the first one fails.
Welsh has formed the Facebook group, “People Over Power: Lenox & New Haven United.”
Welsh accused township officials of not being transparent because she has been forced to file many Freedom of Information Act requests for details on township actions and comments on the potential project. Some of the requests have been denied, and she filed a FOIA lawsuit earlier this month in Macomb Circuit Court.
“I just want them to be accountable,” she said. “I’m a property owner in Lenox … Even though I don’t live there, I’ve, unfortunately, been bringing up transparency and accountable issues with the board for years. Now that the data center brought more attention and pretty much mobilized the community, people see what is happening there.”
She said her difficulty in getting information began after Supervisor Reeder was first elected.
Reeder did not return a call seeking comment.
Welsh said the potential data center location in the I-94 Development District provides a “perfect storm” for the developer because it already provides access to water and power.
New Haven, located within Lenox, has actively opposed an AI data center in Lenox, said village President Brian Meissen. The New Haven Village Council passed a resolution last May to oppose large-scale data centers near residential districts in addressing the Lenox possible proposal.
It adopted an ordinance that prohibits elected and appointed officials from signing non-disclosure agreements and last January placed a one-year moratorium on data center developments.