Data center plans unclear after Delhi Township meeting goes against proposal

Gary Dorris, CEO of Lighthouse Sustainability, told City Pulse on Halloween that the outcry against his proposed data center may not reflect the community’s real opinions but after a blistering night of criticism on Friday (Oct. 30), he acknowledged that the future of a proposed data center project in Delhi Township is unclear.

“We haven’t determined our future and what we’re doing here,” Dorris said. “There are multiple courses of action but I do know this site holds a tremendous opportunity for the community in some form of development and I hope that is realized and I can help realize it.”

The project barely got off the ground, it was first made public on Tuesday (Oct. 27).

The Lansing Economic Area Partnership, a regional economic development group, went public with a $10 billion, 423-acre data center proposal for Delhi Township exactly week before election day, in a national election in which Republicans and Democrats are racing to be the best opponent of data centers. The township had already approved a one-year moratorium on data centers, which is in effect until April; developers said that would give time to shape their project, which dangled millions and millions in incentives and other benefits.

Developers also said they would back off if the community said no.

The response to that invitation for public response was swift and in opposition.

Delhi Township officials said within hours that they hadn’t been consulted, the township withdrew from the partnership less than a day later and scheduled a special meeting days later to vote on officially opposing the project.

A hastily-arranged 5:30 p.m. Friday meeting was packed and the vestibule area was chaotic, with hundreds of people including congressional candidate William Lawrence and news reporters unable to get inside or even hear the proceedings.

A fire marshal enforced a 177-person capacity in the room and there were no accommodations for the crowd outside to be able to hear what was happening. A spokesperson for the township said they are working on answers to City Pulse’s questions about the meeting arrangements.

The township board unanimously voted during the meeting on a simple resolution saying the township officially opposed the project and wanted LEAP to cease any work on it “due to the overwhelming amounts of negative public input received.” Officials said they had quickly gotten 350 negative comments and eight positive ones.

The site is at the Holt Economic Opportunity Park near U.S. 127. Delhi Township is often referred to as the Holt area. There are housing complexes as well as active industrial sites surrounding the area.

Dorris said Saturday that the meeting was indeed stacked with opponents but the community may not have had a fair chance to hear the proposal’s benefits.

He said the Delhi Township manager had arranged a quick meeting for a Friday evening with a compliant board.

“It was preordained by the town (manager) that this is what she wanted and I believe that honestly the governing body largely follows her lead but it’s not serving the constituants well nor the greater Lansing area.”

He said the township’s board members neglected their fiduciary duty and didn’t consider all the extra perks and taxes that the data center proposal had brought to the table.

“Last night was a manifestation of a well-organized group, they have an army,” Dorris said, of the Friday meeting, “we haven’t built up our machinery to engage with the public, that is clearly something the community is not interested in doing. It’s that lack of leadership that will keep this community in its current state but it freezes out opportunity for growth and for future generations.”

Dorris said the meeting doesn’t reflect the numbers he is looking at, which show more support of the project.

“I know that on the Facebook groups it was very balanced, we monitor that in a sentiment report,” Dorris said.

Asked which Facebook group or groups he was referring to, Dorris said he is using online sentiment software, which is telling him that there were 30 members of the public in opposition to the data center on social media and just as many people in support of it.

“When you tally up the impressions that were negative there were 30 members and there were more than that that were positive,” Dorris said.

He said the site has its greatest value as a data center.

“This is still an excellent site that has potential and I would agree that, at this juncture, a data center might, would be challenged, and, yes, there are other elements of recourse but maybe the community has interest in advancing something like advanced manufacturing on this site and I think that could work well,” Dorris said. “So it might be a site that’s home to something else. It’s perfectly situated for industrial development. The last industry was a gravel pit, it’s perfect. A goldilocks site.”

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“This data center is different than others, Dorris said, “we’ve gone to great lengths to differentiate it. I don’t think many data centers are offering the programs we’re offering, the environmental attributes we’re offering and the community benefits we were offering. Whatever else we do on this property will likely be less than value than the data center for the community. But I think you have to respect the opportunities in advance them accordingly.”

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“Given the contentious of it in the community, I will give credit for the relative civility. It was a hostile environment but at no point did I feel unsafe and for that I am appreciative,” Dorris said. “It’s the community’s loss, not mine.”