Saline Township will revisit its vote on a proposed tax break for Oracle’s planned data center Friday after officials said trustees could not approve the exemption the way they did Tuesday.
The board voted unanimously July 14 to approve a 12-year industrial facilities tax exemption tied to the project’s original approximately $4.8 billion application, rather than the roughly $43 billion investment figure later presented by the company.
During a township meeting Thursday, Supervisor Tom Hammond said the law requires the board to vote yes or no on the formal application and does not allow trustees to substitute another investment figure.
“The statute says we cannot do what we did,” Hammond said. “It’s a yes or a no.”
The board will meet again at 7 p.m. Friday, July 17, to reconsider the application and language in the township’s consent judgment calling for the maximum exemption and term permitted.
Tuesday’s vote followed nearly two hours of public comment from residents, officials and county representatives. Public comment was originally scheduled after the vote but was moved ahead of the decision.
The dispute adds to a broader debate over incentives for hyperscale data centers. Qualifying projects already receive Michigan sales and use tax exemptions before seeking local property tax abatements. Supporters cite potential public revenue, while critics question whether manufacturing incentives fit facilities expected to create comparatively few permanent jobs.
Ypsilanti Township Refuses to Negotiate
Opposition remained strong in Ypsilanti Township, where residents filled a July 15 informational meeting as the University of Michigan evaluated two possible locations for a proposed high-performance research computing center with Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Township attorney Doug Winters said officials would refuse to negotiate for community benefits if doing so meant accepting the project.
“Ypsilanti Township is not a commodity to be purchased,” Winters said. “It is a community to be respected, and our community is not for sale.”
Supervisor Brenda Stumbo rejected U-M’s distinction between the research facility and a commercial data center.
“It walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it’s a duck,” Stumbo said. “It’s a data center.”
U-M says the center would support research involving medicine, materials science, clean energy, engineering and national security and would not manufacture weapons or contain hazardous nuclear materials.
But U-M says Los Alamos work would include national security, nuclear stewardship and classified research. The university describes nuclear stewardship as computational modeling used to help ensure the safety and reliability of the nation’s aging nuclear stockpile without live testing.
U-M says the facility would use less than one-tenth the electricity of a typical commercial data center and be served by a dedicated DTE substation. It is also exploring closed-loop cooling, which could drastically reduce or eliminate daily cooling-water use.
No site has been selected. News outlets have reported that a decision could come within days or by the end of July, although U-M has not announced a deadline.
Augusta Drafts Permanent Rules
The Augusta Township Planning Commission reviewed an initial draft of a high-resource-demand facilities ordinance Wednesday.
The proposal would limit large-scale data centers to the General Industrial zoning district through a planned unit development process. It includes neighborhood meetings and standards for setbacks, noise, water use, closed-loop cooling, emergency planning and annual reporting.
Developers would also have to provide financial assurances equal to 150% of estimated decommissioning costs.
Township Planner Joe Pezzotti called the document a starting point that will be revised and reviewed by the township attorney before adoption is considered.
State and Federal Rules Take Shape
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer introduced a statewide plan July 15 calling for utility protections and asking data center companies to voluntarily pledge that residents will not bear the costs of serving their projects. The proposal closely tracks protections adopted by the Michigan Public Service Commission and bills introduced by Democratic lawmakers.
Critics argue the voluntary pledge is too weak. Sierra Club Michigan supports a temporary moratorium until enforceable safeguards are adopted, while Sen. Mallory McMorrow said pledges do not provide guaranteed protections.
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed removing minimum public participation requirements for some state and local air permits covering minor pollution sources. Agencies could still seek public input, but critics say removing the federal baseline could make those opportunities less consistent.
The proposal comes as Washtenaw County communities debate both data center regulation and public participation. Saline residents fought to speak before a consequential tax vote, Ypsilanti Township held another public meeting, and Augusta’s draft would require neighborhood engagement before a public hearing.
With another Saline vote scheduled Friday and U-M’s site decision approaching, both the projects and the public’s role in shaping them remain unsettled.
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