Oakland County Election Commission Approves Recall Petition Language For Lyon Township Board

The Oakland County Election Commission has approved petition language to recall all seven members of the Lyon Township Board of Trustees, an action supported by the community organization "No Data Center Lyon Township." This development stems from widespread resident opposition to "Project Flex," a proposed 1.8-million-square-foot hyperscale data center by developer Walbridge and operator Verrus, acting on behalf of AI firm Anthropic, which received conditional approval. Residents, represented by spokesperson Craig Kreutzberg, express concerns over environmental, infrastructure, and safety impacts, particularly due to the project's proximity to an elementary school. They contend the Board was aware of the project but failed to inform the community until late in the process, and seek to retract the approval. Trustees Lise Blades and Kristofer Enlow, among others, responded to the recall effort, emphasizing that the Township Board did not vote on Project Flex. Trustee Blades stated that the project, being a permitted use under existing I-1 and I-2 industrial zoning, was approved by the Planning Commission, making the Board's hands legally tied. She clarified that the recall language technically concerns a board salary raise, but the underlying motivation is the data center. Trustee Enlow echoed this, calling the press release misleading for conflating the recall petition with Project Flex, as the Board's vote concerned a cost-of-living wage bump, not the data center itself. Walbridge, which has owned the 172-acre site in the South Hill Business Park West since the 1980s, and Verrus maintain that the project followed all proper approval processes and did not require variances, as data centers are permitted uses under current zoning ordinances established in the 1950s. Despite the Board's legal limitations, the "No Data Center Lyon Township" group, comprising over 2,000 residents, continues its efforts to halt the project, seeking a board that will actively challenge the approval.