Garfield Township is teeing up a potential moratorium on data centers that would allow officials to spend up to 18 months updating the township zoning ordinance to better address such projects. In the meantime, an application has been submitted for a small-scale data center on 3.45 acres on Sybrandt Road near the Sara Lee plant. However, Township Planning Director John Sych says the site plan is incomplete and cannot be considered for approval until updated by developers.

Attendees packed Garfield Township Hall earlier this month and gave 90 minutes of public comment – the vast majority opposed to data centers – when planning commissioners considered a zoning update. That update, which the board approved and forwarded to trustees for consideration, establishes a process for enacting temporary moratoriums in Garfield Township. Township trustees will hold a public hearing on the zoning update on August 11 and could vote to approve it that night.

Once the procedure is established, township leaders could then pass a moratorium specific to data centers. Planning commissioners discussed that step at their Wednesday meeting. Deputy Planning Director Stephen Hannon explained that planning commissioners would make a recommendation to the township board to approve a moratorium and include information on why it’s needed. The goal of such moratoriums is to give the township time to update its zoning ordinance and/or master plan when an emerging land use, like data centers, could “adversely affect the health, safety, or welfare of township residents or property,” according to the policy language.

In this case, there are several concerns related to data centers, Hannon said. Those include energy consumption, lower-than-promised economic benefits, and impacts to water/sewer services. The latter has an added layer of complexity for Garfield Township because it relies on the City of Traverse City for water and sewer, Hannon said. Noise is also a bigger concern than “we initially thought,” he said, pointing to communities where a constant hum emitted by data centers has drawn pushback from neighbors.  

Under Garfield Township’s current zoning ordinance, data centers and computer operations are a use by right in the I-G (General Industrial) and I-L (Limited Industrial) districts. With a moratorium in place, township officials could look at updating several aspects of the zoning code. That could include changing data centers from a use by right to a special use permit – a more intensive approval process – and evaluating the districts in which they’re allowed, potentially limiting them to just one of the industrial zones, Hannon said. They could also update the standards for review, with applicants required to address concerns ranging from cooling systems to noise to water and electricity use.

More detailed definitions could also be provided in the zoning ordinance, reflecting the “scale and impact of different types of data centers,” according to a staff memo. Trustee Molly Agostinelli, who sits on the planning commission, said she personally didn’t believe a hyperscale data center could come to Garfield Township due to lack of available land. “But we could have medium size, or smaller size, and when we get down to the nuts and bolts of it, we want to make sure we’re covered on that medium size,” she said. Hannon agreed, noting that “even the small data centers still have impacts.”

A smaller-scale data center has in fact already been proposed for Garfield Township. During a June board of trustees meeting, Illinois-based developer Tom Cervenka of Cervenka Development Partners spoke during public comment about bringing a “low-intensity, environmentally conscious data center” to Garfield Township. Cervenka encouraged trustees to make a distinction in a moratorium between “large hyperscale campuses and smaller adaptive reuse projects,” with the latter being what his company is proposing. TC Light & Power Executive Director Brandie Ekren told The Ticker the project is near TCLP’s Cass Road substation and confirmed the utility spoke with Cervenka as a “speculative customer.”

Cervenka recently submitted an official site plan application for the project to Garfield Township, which The Ticker obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The project is planned for two industrial parcels at 2325 and 2357 Sybrandt Road off Cass near the Sara Lee plant. The application describes an “adaptive reuse of the existing industrial building” at the property to “house computer servers, network infrastructure, electrical distribution equipment, battery backup systems, and other support equipment typical of a modern data processing facility.”

No expansion of the building footprint is proposed. The “existing site access, parking, and circulation patterns will remain substantially unchanged,” the application states. “The facility will not need a water line upgrade, as water will not be used for cooling purposes. Water for the existing facility will remain for toilets and fire suppression. Exterior improvements will be limited to the installation of backup emergency generators, transformers, and other accessory electrical and mechanical equipment…any rooftop mechanical or electrical equipment will be enclosed by architectural sound and sight screening to minimize visual and noise impacts on adjacent properties.”

The facility is “intended to function as a low-impact industrial use, consistent with the existing use and surrounding,” the application states. Ekren previously confirmed to The Ticker that TCLP has enough energy to support the project as proposed, though noted the utility would have a “customized agreement” with Cervenka to ensure that’s the case if the project proceeds.

Township staff are still finishing a required “completeness review” of the application, according to Sych. However, the application lacks detailed engineering, lighting, landscaping, and other plans required in a site plan review. Cervenka – who did not return a request for comment – wrote in the application that those plans will be submitted in the future prior to construction, with the application “submitted solely to establish the proposed land use and obtain the necessary zoning approvals.” Sych says that’s not how the process works and that the application cannot be considered for approval until it’s complete.

In the meantime, if Garfield Township enacts a moratorium, any processing of data center applications would be put on hold for up to a year. The policy language allows for a six-month extension after that if needed, giving township officials up to 18 months to update the township’s zoning rules for data centers.