ALLEN PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) — The Allen Park Planning Commission voted to postpone approval of a proposed data center site plan after a roughly four-hour meeting where dozens of residents voiced concerns about the project.
The proposed data center, located just south of I-94, would span more than 40,000 square feet and require 26 megawatts of power. The project is being developed by Solstice Data and represents one of many data center proposals emerging across metro Detroit.
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"This is very, very, very important to me," one resident said during public comment.
Most residents who spoke at the meeting opposed the project, citing concerns about noise, environmental impact, water supply issues and potential effects on electric bills.
"The biggest question for me is pocketbook — is this going to raise my rates with DTE," another resident said.
While DTE has previously stated that data centers will not increase residential rates and that concern is covered by state law, skeptics remain unconvinced about these assurances.
Some attendees had also rallied against other local data center proposals and held a protest outside city hall before the meeting began.
"I don't think it's a good idea. I think that there's a lot of issues with the burden on infrastructure and the increase in energy costs for residents associated with it," Ryan Stweart of Trenton said.
Solstice Data representatives defended the project, emphasizing that it would be significantly smaller than other proposed facilities in the region. For example, it's about 2% of the size of the project being proposed in Saline Township.
The company described it as an edge data center, saying that needs to be located close to where AI and automation technologies will be used. Examples given were factory automatons with robotics and self-driving cars.
"If my kid jumps out in the road, we don't have one second for the sensor on the car to go to a data center 1,000 miles away and come back — it has to be instantaneous. Therefore, it has to be close to a data center. That's what an edge data center is," a Solstice Data representative said. "This is the kind of thing that's going to become critical infrastructure for industries and academic institutions and hospital systems to leverage the latest technology and remain competitive."
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