• The Delhi Township Board of Trustees voted 6-0 to oppose a proposed data center within their borders
• The Lansing Economic Area Partnership and developers have pitched an up to 1-gigawatt data center in the township but are seeking public input before seeking a company to build the facility
• The township must rezone the property where the data center is planned for one to be built there

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Just three days after mid-Michigan economic developers pitched a data center proposal rooted in public trust and a willingness to walk away, local officials are asking them to cease all efforts.

The Delhi Township Board of Trustees voted 6-0 Friday to formally oppose the prospective data center pitched by the Lansing Economic Area Partnership and a Colorado-based company called Lighthouse Sustainability in the Lansing suburb. 

The resolution cited “overwhelming” opposition to the project.

“Lighthouse is harassing our citizens with phone calls and deceitful mailers in hopes of bullying our citizens and community,” township Supervisor Eddie Montemayor said ahead of the vote. “And the board will not stand for that, or data centers in Delhi Township.”

The vote comes just three days after the economic development agency and Lighthouse announced they’re considering a data center at a 423-acre site just west of US Highway 127, while vowing that their process would be more transparent and community-centered than the industry norm.

Reached ahead of the vote, a spokesperson for the economic development agency declined to say what the resolution means for the data center plan.

“For now, LEAP has no further comment related to Delhi Township,” spokesperson Brent Snavely said.

The township board on Wednesday ended its partnership with LEAP. 

Friday’s vote makes Delhi Township the latest in a growing number of Michigan communities pushing back against proposed data centers, the vast computing facilities used to power online streaming, cloud storage and artificial intelligence models.

Residents packed the township senior center Friday night to voice their opinions about the project — most of them negative. Concerns ranged from noise pollution and sullied views at a nearby lakeside park to negative consequences of the artificial intelligence powered by data centers. 

“Why do we need data centers?” resident Fred Burke asked. “So our kids can spend longer on their phones playing their games?” 

A handful of residents urged the board to vote down the resolution, arguing it’s wrong to condemn a project that hasn’t yet been formally proposed or fully vetted.

“Why should the most vocal initial reactions be treated as the position of the entire community?” resident Krystle Valdovinos asked the board. 

The property in question abuts a mix of undeveloped land, business and residential districts and other industrial properties, including a metal coil processing plant, a truckyard, a rail line and a jet engine fan blade manufacturing plant.

Delhi Township’s 2023 master plan prioritized the site for large economic development projects, but it is not zoned industrial. That means township officials would need to rezone the site before anyonecould build a data center.

Developers have not applied for rezoning, and Delhi Township is under a 12-month data center moratorium that expires in April. In their pitch, project backers vowed to spend the coming months gathering community feedback as they consider whether to apply for rezoning.

They did not alert township officials to the proposal before Tuesday’s announcement — a strategy meant to avoid the outcry that has occurred in other communities where developers secretly negotiated data center deals with local officials well before residents knew of their plans.

Developers say they’re willing to walk away if, after months of weekly public meetings and residential advisory committee gatherings, the project receives little public support.

“We want to have data centers be something that is valued by communities,” said Lighthouse co-founder and CEO Gary Dorris.

Lighthouse and LEAP officials say they’re targeting a $10-plus-billion project that would boost local tax revenue by roughly $53 million, create 100 permanent onsite jobs and 1,000 temporary construction jobs and come with a $20 million community benefits agreement.

Early plans call for a 1-gigawatt facility powered by a mix of renewables and battery storage, with a water-efficient closed-loop cooling system. Some of that energy would come from rooftop solar panels and batteries installed on area homes, in an arrangement that Lighthouse officials say would reduce participating residents’ energy bills by up to 50%.

The backlash was almost immediate, with angry residents taking to social media to express skepticism about the project’s potential benefits and fear of negative impacts.

That follows a trend nationwide: Data center developments have become a subject of bipartisan ire, with poll after poll showing widespread public opposition to the facilities. 

In the first quarter of 2026 alone, local opposition and other challenges blocked or delayed roughly $130 billion worth of data centers nationwide.

The Delhi Township land is currently owned by a holding company associated with the rental housing developer DTN Management, but LEAP has an option to purchase it. 

LEAP has been working for years to ready the site for industrial development, using a $6.5 million grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s Strategic Site Readiness Program. 

During Tuesday’s announcement, LEAP President and CEO Bob Trezise said that, if the data center idea doesn’t pan out, work will continue to prepare the site for some other industrial use.

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