Saline Township Board Delays Related Digital Data Center Rezoning Decision to September

After a three-hour meeting on Wednesday evening, August 13, 2025, the Saline Township Board voted unanimously to table data center developer Related Digital’s rezoning request for 525 acres north of US-12 and east of Braun Road until its next board meeting on September 10^th.

Board Supervisor Jim Marion, with assistance from Treasurer Jennifer Zink, did an admirable job providing area residents with opportunities to voice questions and concerns while maintaining order and decorum. Like recent planning commission meetings, most speakers voiced concerns and objections to the proposed data center. Concerns centered around a few major themes. These included:

• Impact upon traffic on an already busy US-12, especially during morning and afternoon rush hours
• Potential impact on water quality and on the underlying aquifer, which supplies water to existing homes in the area
• Potential impact on local energy resources and residents having to bear cost increases in their electrical service because of the data center
• Potential noise pollution from the site and its impact upon the health of residents who live nearby
• Potential impact of lighting from the development
• Skepticism about the  financial benefits to the township and Saline Area Schools
• And a generalized mistrust of promises made by Related Digital

After over two hours of public comment, the board began a discussion of the rezoning request. Township consulting attorney Fred Lucas advised the board of the difference between approving a rezoning request and an approval of a site plan.

“Approving a rezoning request is a legislative act by the board,” Lucas said, citing criteria contained in legislation and local ordinances governing rezoning requests. “Approving a site plan is an administrative action. It is different,” Lucas said. “You evaluate a site plan on whether it meets your local ordinances, and if it does, you have to approve the site plan.”

With that clarification, trustee Dean Marion stated, “Ordinarily approving a rezoning request takes between three and six months. You are asking us to approve this request in thirty days. It’s not realistic.”

Zink emphatically stated her concerns. “We are being pushed to approve this rezoning request, and once we do, it becomes next to impossible to stop this.” Zink continued, “For a proposal this big and this complex, we deserve more time to consider all of the issues.”

With that, trustee Dean Marion made a motion to table the rezoning request until the next board meeting scheduled for Wednesday, September 10^th, at 7 p.m. Supervisor Jim Marion abstained from voting on the advice of legal counsel due to being contacted by another data center developer that might create a financial interest for Marion. The motion to table was approved 4 – 0.

Following passing the motion to table, the board took care of additional business items, and the meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Related Digital’s CEO, Brent Behrman, was asked what impact the action had on their development plans, and he responded, “We respect the decision of the board and will continue the dialogue.”