LANSING, Mich — The city of Lansing is considering a moratorium on data centers just weeks after plans to build one downtown were pulled.
- Lansing committee to take up a proposed moratorium on data centers.
- Deep Green pulled plans to build a data center in downtown on April 6.
- Neighbors say they want more studies on the effects data centers can have on their communities.
WATCH: LANSING CONSIDERS DATA CENTER MORATORIUM AFTER DOWNTOWN PLANS FAIL
A proposed data center moratorium is awaiting consideration by the city's Committee of Development and Planning. The earliest the committee can discuss the moratorium is at its next meeting on May 4.
Councilmember Ryan Kost submitted the item onto Monday's agenda. Kost told me feedback from neighbors will help craft city guidelines for data centers.
"They were opposed to a lot of things and so it gave us a great jumping off point to say okay this is the groundwork for that framework," Kost said.
WATCH: CLINTON COUNTY APPROVES A 12-MONTH MORATORIUM ON DATA CENTERS
Just two weeks ago, Deep Green pulled a downtown data center plan after weeks of push back from neighbors.
Delhi Township neighbor Tyjuan Gillthird opposed data centers amid concerns about their effects on the environment. Gillthird wants more consideration on how to mitigate their impacts, not just financial gain.
"We cannot sacrifice our environment. We cannot risk ecological destruction for short-term economic growth,"Gillthird said. "We cannot support data centers right now."
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Lansing neighbor William Walker hopes future conversations can help carve the best path moving forward.
"If we're going to have data centers. We can't have them in areas where people live," Walker said.
"The data centers are going to be part of the future. We need to take a deeper look into them. What are the side-effects?"Walker said.
Kost said State Representative Emily Dievendorf is pushing for data center guidelines on the state level, but they were unavailable for comment Wednesday night.
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