Washtenaw Data Center Watch Begins with Ballots, Bills and Local Control

This week, The Sun Times News begins Washtenaw Data Center Watch, a weekly roundup focused on data center-related developments in Washtenaw County.

The column will track local projects, legislation, utility questions and regional infrastructure decisions when they affect county communities. Future editions will focus on what changed during the week, what decisions are coming next and what residents should watch.

Across the county, local governments and residents are weighing similar concerns: how much electricity and water these projects would use, what local officials can regulate, what information should be public and who pays when major infrastructure is needed.

Augusta Township Rezoning Heads to Voters

Augusta Township voters will decide Aug. 4 whether to uphold Ordinance No. 2025-02, which would rezone several Augusta Development Corp. parcels from Agricultural Residential to General Industrial.

The rezoning is tied to Thor Equities/Form8tion’s proposed data center project. A “yes” vote would uphold the rezoning. A “no” vote would repeal the ordinance and leave the parcels zoned Agricultural Residential.

The township board approved the rezoning in July 2025, but residents submitted enough petition signatures to send the question to voters.

Dingell Presses U-M, Los Alamos for Answers

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell is again pressing the University of Michigan and Los Alamos National Laboratory to answer Ypsilanti Township residents’ questions about a proposed research computing facility.

In a June 24 letter to U-M President Domenico Grasso and Los Alamos Director Thom Mason, Dingell said residents and local officials still lack clear answers about the project’s possible effects on energy demand, water use, noise, public safety, emergency response, municipal resources and quality of life.

Dingell also asked U-M and Los Alamos to directly answer community questions about whether the facility would be used for nuclear weapons production, nuclear weapons modeling or nuclear defense capabilities. She requested answers by Friday, July 10, and said she would make the responses public.

The letter follows Ypsilanti Township’s June 16 vote to formally oppose the project. U-M has described the project as a high-performance computing facility, not a commercial data center. Even so, many of the public concerns overlap with those raised around other data center projects, including utility demand, public information, local authority and community impact.

Washtenaw Lawmakers Target Local Control

State Reps. Jimmie Wilson Jr., Jason Morgan and Morgan Foreman introduced a bill package that would limit U-M’s ability to acquire new property without following local zoning rules.

House Joint Resolution X, introduced by Wilson, would ask Michigan voters to amend the state constitution to require the U-M Board of Regents to comply with local ordinances and zoning requirements for land acquired after 2027.

House Bills 6120 and 6121, introduced by Morgan and Foreman, would amend state law to extend local zoning authority over U-M property bought after 2027.

Foreman Backs Data Center Guardrails

Foreman is also among the Michigan House Democrats backing a separate package of data center bills aimed at electric bill protections, community benefits, water use, noise, transparency and cleanup plans if a project closes or is abandoned.

Her bill, HB 6140, would prohibit elected officials from entering into nondisclosure agreements related to data center construction.

Other bills in the package would create a separate utility customer class for data centers, require community benefits agreements, restrict water use for cooling, require noise reports and require companies to cover decommissioning costs.

The bills have been introduced but have not become law.

Saline Township Remains Part of State Debate

The Saline Township data center project remains one of the state’s most visible examples of the larger debate.

Washtenaw County’s data center information page lists the project as under construction, identifies Related Digital as the developer and notes the project’s connection to Oracle and OpenAI’s artificial intelligence infrastructure plans.

The project has drawn attention because of its expected energy demand, water questions, local settlement history and electric contracts to supply power. It is also part of the state debate over whether Michigan should pause new data center approvals or create clearer rules around utility costs, community benefits and transparency.

What To Watch Next

The next major local date is Aug. 4, when Augusta Township voters are scheduled to decide the data center-related rezoning question.

Before that, Dingell has asked U-M and Los Alamos to answer her questions about the Ypsilanti Township project by July 10.

In Lansing, several data center-related bill packages remain pending, including proposals for a statewide moratorium, House Democratic guardrails and Washtenaw lawmakers’ proposed limits on U-M’s land-use authority.