Where The Servers Go
Officials in Delta Township move to limit data centers to industrial districts and require public hearings.
DELTA TOWNSHIP — Township board members voted April 20 to begin rewriting zoning rules that would limit data centers to industrial areas and require public review before such facilities could be approved.
The board approved the measure with one dissenting vote and no discussion, initiating a zoning amendment that now heads to the Planning Commission for a public hearing and recommendation.
Community and Economic Development Director Peter Menser told the board the proposal stems from earlier policy discussions and is intended to clarify how the township regulates the emerging use.
“At the meeting on April 6, the board agreed to consider a zoning amendment that would address three things,” Menser said, including defining data centers, removing an outdated category and establishing where the use would be allowed.
The amendment would define a data center as “any physical building or facility for which the primary or principal use is the housing of information technology infrastructure, including servers, computer appliances, network equipment, and related components, for the primary uses of storing, managing, processing, and/or transmitting digital data.”
It would also eliminate the category of “data processing and computer centers,” which is currently permitted by right in office, commercial and industrial zoning districts but is not clearly defined in the ordinance.
Menser said that change would shift how the use is regulated.
“That is a use permitted by right in office, commercial and industrial zoning,” he said.
Under the proposed amendment, data centers would be allowed only in industrial zoning districts and would require a special land use permit.
“Our special land use permit would go for a public hearing with our planning commission and then it would come to the township board for final approval,” Menser said.
He also outlined the next steps in the zoning process.
“It would go to the planning commission. They hold a public hearing … make a recommendation. It would come back to you for adoption,” Menser said, noting the ordinance would require two board readings before taking effect.
The board approved the measure without discussion. Trustee Joshua Lyman opposed the motion and did not explain the opposition during the meeting.
If adopted, the change would formally establish how data centers are defined and where they can be located in the township.