Standing shoulder to shoulder in a crowded Lyon Township, Michigan, City Hall, residents waited hours for their turn at the microphone during the June meeting. Some would wait over 5 hours to have their comments be heard or have their questions answered regarding a proposed data center.
“We will likely move if this goes through,” Trevor Johnson, a resident of the township, said of his family if the 1.8-million-square foot facility is built.
In Lyon Township, residents have spent months fighting a proposed 1.8 million square foot data center known as Project Flex. Those opposed have questioned if the project adequately addresses noise, water management and property value concerns.
Subsequently, the developer, Verrus, has threatened legal action against the township if the approvals for the structure continue to be delayed.
Last month, Lyon Township postponed a vote to accept a $10 million offer from Verrus for the community to administer.
With looming litigation, the conflict and incentives have intensified.
“People have valid concerns when they look at data center development,” said Jeff Bladen, head of energy at Verrus Development Group. “We want to make sure people understand what it is that’s coming to their community.”
Bladen said if the community has questions about their infrastructure, they have answered questions on their website. He also said after hearing some of the public outcry, Verrus changed models of the project to make the data center less visible from the street view.
“People should expect anybody developing a data center to answer real questions with straight answers,” Bladen said.
Who supports this?
This scene has become increasingly common in communities across the Midwest as companies are drawn by its abundance of land and freshwater to race to build data centers to fuel artificial intelligence.
The backlash has become so widespread that it raises a subsequent question: If opposition dominates public meetings and social media feeds, who is supporting these projects?
The answer reflects a divide between residents concerned about quality of life and developers who see data centers as the next generation of infrastructure and an international race.
In Michigan, there are currently 79 data centers with 26 in the planning stages. Ten years ago, there were 43 data centers statewide.
On July 15, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer launched an effort to have data center companies pledge their operations won’t lead to higher cost for the state’s residents.
The day before that, the state of New York became the first state to impose a data center moratorium.
“We’ve had data centers in our lives for a very long time now,” Bladen said. “Pretty much every part of our daily life touches data centers.”
The rapid growth of AI has only intensified demand. According to Pew Research Center, about half of Americans use AI chatbots every day.
“Certainly the emergence of artificial intelligence is an impetus for growth,” Bladen said. “There’s no disputing that.”
At the national level, there are concerns about the United States staying competitive in artificial intelligence on the global stage.
Tom Kelly, CEO of Automation Alley, a Michigan-based nonprofit technology and manufacturing business association, said having data centers is part of staying competitive.
“If we want to grow and be successful in this AI world, we have to participate,” Kelly said. “It would be like Michigan saying in the 1950s, ‘We’re going to take a pass on roads. Data centers will be the roads of the future for information.”
Support has not just spawned from developers, but public officials too.
A proposed data center in DeKalb, Illinois, prompted weeks of public debate before winning City Council approval in December. According to local reporting from Shaw Local, residents and officials debated if the project’s possible economic benefits outweighed the environmental concerns.
Alderman John Walker sees it differently.
“Everybody loves social media,” Walker said. “Where do they think all that stuff comes from? You can’t want social media and AI but oppose the data centers that power it.”
Walker argues data centers can generate tax revenue and strengthen the local economy.
“I’m trying to get as many data centers as possible here because they definitely help the city,” he said. “I think the pros outweigh the cons.”
A similar situation has emerged with Project Flex in Michigan, but the project has faced heavier pushback.
For the community’s concerns, Bladen said, “We’re managing water consumption to a very low level. We’re reducing noise to a very, very low level. Far below what a traditional industrial site would allow for.”
However, critics argue that the rapid expansion of data centers places pressure on local water supplies. A Guardian investigation found roughly two-thirds of planned AI data centers in the U.S. are planned for drought affected regions. These centers are estimated to consume as much as 73 billion gallons of water annually by 2028, The Guardian reported.
Researchers who study AI development and infrastructure have struggled to keep pace with the rapid growth of artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Cornell researchers who analyzed data centers implemented in the Atlanta area, wrote they create “economic opportunity alongside significant challenges.” They warned that growing concentrations of facilities could place pressure on electric grids and water systems.
At the same time, supporters say that public discussions often lack context.
“Data centers have been completely singled out,” Cohen Barnes, Mayor of DeKalb said. “It seems like 70% of the information out there is misinformation.”
Barnes said public conversations focus on worst-case scenarios without comparing data centers to other industrial or commercial developments.
“What’s lacking out there is context,” Barnes said.
In 2023, Meta opened a massive 2.3 million-square-foot digital campus in DeKalb. Years into Meta’s major data center campus, Barnes said residents have largely embraced the project.
“I haven’t had one complaint from any resident regarding the Meta campus,” he said. “Not one complaint about water, noise, pollution, wildlife or environmental impacts.”
Instead, he points to visible community investments.
According to Barnes, revenue generated by the Meta campus has helped fund a $34 million elementary school, police and fire pensions and recreational facilities.
“In DeKalb, those dollars built schools,” he said. “It has been incredibly impactful.”
Walker believes critics often overlook how tax revenues ripple throughout a community.
“People don’t realize where those dollars and revenues go,” Walker said. “Sometimes that money goes to lowering taxes or keeping taxes from being raised.”
Construction jobs play a role in the pro-data center argument, but opposers say most of the jobs are temporary. Meta’s campus generated more than 1,100 union jobs during construction and continues to employ hundreds of workers, Barnes said.
“Union leadership absolutely loves data center projects,” Barnes said.
Kelly hears similar enthusiasm from Michigan’s business community.
“The business community is very supportive,” Kelly said.
Kelly worries Michigan risks falling behind neighboring states. Nationally, Virginia sits at the top with over 650 data centers, behind Virginia is Texas with over 500.
Ohio has over 200 data centers statewide.
“Ohio has been kicking our butt for years,” Kelly said.
To him, the rise of artificial intelligence represents a defining economic moment.
“Technology comes in waves,” Kelly said. “If you miss this wave, you may have to wait a generation.”
Community insights
As data centers remain a constant subject of news coverage, many communities have directed their skepticism toward the developers behind the projects.
Questions about transparency have also centred in non disclosure agreements, or NDAs, which some developers have used when working with local governments.
Earlier this year, Tom Kertscher, a reporter with Wisconsin Watch, told Great Lakes Now that community trust has been broken with the implementation of the agreements.
“Then you throw in an NDA and people say, ‘Wait a minute. I’m not sure how I feel about a data center, but now I find out that my local officials have been working on this quietly for many months,” Kertscher said. “That’s going to spur opposition just by itself.'”
These agreements became so widely used in Wisconsin that Microsoft said they would stop using the NDA with data center development.
Kelly argues the industry bears some responsibility for the growing distrust.
“Developers need to stop acting so arrogant,” he said. “Just settle down and sit with the community. And the community stops shouting at the developers.”
Instead, Kelly says advocates should build transparency.
“Bring in professional consultants,” he said. “Every objection should be met with a mitigation strategy. You have to build trust.”
Bladen says developers must earn that trust through openness.
In an interview, Bladen said Verrus’s proposed Lyon Township project would use a closed-loop cooling system that dramatically reduces water consumption compared with traditional cooling methods and battery storage systems. This new system will reduce emissions and noise associated with backup generators.
For Bladen, the challenge, he argues, is not whether data centers should be built.
“With this economic growth comes responsible development,” Bladen said. “We should be focusing on how to do it right.”
The challenge is how they are built and received by the communities they are in.
