Pittsfield Township is trying to answer a question more Washtenaw County communities are facing: What rules should be in place before a large data center comes knocking?
The township’s proposed ordinance for data centers and other high-resource-demand facilities will head to the Planning Commission after a public survey closes June 10.
Township Supervisor Trish Reilly said the survey results and current draft are expected to go before the Planning Commission on June 18 for public discussion and vetting.
“The survey and draft ordinance have been released with the expectation that input gathered through the survey and future public meetings will help guide the Township as it continues to modify the ordinance,” Reilly said. “In other words, the ordinance will continue to evolve as feedback is collected.”
The proposal comes as Pittsfield continues its moratorium, or temporary pause, on data centers. Reilly said the township’s November 2025 moratorium was renewed in May for another six months.
“We used the first six months to gather information from staff, environmental experts, planning professionals, and outside counsel,” Reilly said.
The issue has become a broader regional conversation as communities weigh how data centers and other high-demand facilities could affect land use, water and sewer systems, electricity needs, natural resources and nearby neighborhoods.
Reilly said the main thing the township wants residents to understand is that the proposed ordinance is meant to protect “public health, safety, infrastructure, natural resources, and neighborhood character, to the greatest extent possible.”
As written, the ordinance would require applicants to show that a proposed facility would not overburden water, sewer or utility systems. Before approval, the township would need written confirmation from utility and regulatory agencies that proposed water withdrawals or discharges would not harm existing users, system capacity, groundwater resources or downstream infrastructure.
The draft also addresses energy use. Applicants would have to show that at least 90% of a facility’s energy demand would be met through renewable energy sources. Facilities would also have to meet a power usage effectiveness standard of 1.2 or lower, or show they are designed to be as efficient as possible. Power usage effectiveness, or PUE, is a common way to measure how efficiently a data center uses electricity.
Oversight would continue after approval. Operators would have to submit annual reports on energy use, water use, renewable energy, cooling methods, generator use, emissions compliance, sound monitoring and efficiency or security upgrades made during the previous year.
The draft also includes noise limits, with sound capped at 50 decibels at the property line and 40 decibels at night for property lines next to residential districts.
Reilly said the draft includes risk mitigation language for impacts that could reasonably be connected to a data center or high-resource-demand facility. That section includes requirements for a good-faith local hiring plan and a public-facing reporting dashboard.
The proposed rules also call for larger setbacks, tighter noise limits and more community engagement than the township requires for many other uses.
“Setbacks, noise limits, and community engagement requirements are all more intensive than other approved uses,” Reilly said. “This is because the Township recognizes the fact that data centers have a disproportionate impact on the communities in which they are located as compared to other, more traditional land uses.”
The Planning Commission discussion is scheduled for June 18.
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