ALLEN PARK, Mich. – The Allen Park Planning Commission voted to delay approval of a proposed data center at a heated meeting Thursday evening.
The commissioners voted to postpone a vote on the data center, to be built at 7500 Enterprise Dr., to allow more time for an additional noise study and evaluation by the city’s fire department, and to gather input from adjacent communities.
Residents packed the meeting to raise concerns during public comments.
Representatives for developer Solstice Data also gave a presentation during the meeting.
Company spokespeople said the facility will use a closed-loop cooling system that won’t draw any water from the municipal water system.
The company will bring its own water tanks on site to provide water needed for the cooling equipment.
Developers said the facility will run on grid power, operate on existing DTE substations, and produce no emissions.
Twelve backup generators will be on site for emergency power supply and will be tested monthly or quarterly.
An initial noise study found that the facility will generate approximately 50 decibels of noise at the closest dwellings.
The developer is planning to conduct an additional study to measure ambient noise.
Developers plan to recycle heat generated by the data center and provide it to other facilities in the area for free, on the condition that they give 25% of those savings to a local nonprofit that provides STEM education.
The company estimates the facility will generate $6.2 million to $7.4 million in annual property tax revenue for Allen Park and will create 25 permanent jobs.
The organization Downriver United 734 organized a protest ahead of the meeting.
“The waste that is coming in terms of electricity, water, noise - is this really what the community needs?” said Jessica Schering, the organization’s co-founder.
Residents raised concerns about the impact on local energy infrastructure, the effects of noise pollution on surrounding neighborhoods, and the environmental impact of heat generated by the facility, which may not be recycled.
“The noise pollution and the land values for the places around it, and for what in the end? The job generation is not for the people here,” said Cody Childs, a resident of nearby Belleville.
“I live on the other side of the freeway from where the data center is going in.
The developers tonight said that the noise is going to be faced to the freeway and disappear somewhere across the freeway.
What they failed to even look at was that there’s a whole neighborhood right on the other side of the freeway where I live, and that is deeply concerning to me.”
Resident Margaret Smith