Real Estate Scam Prompts Data Center Moratorium Talks In Kasson Township

The Kasson Township Board in Michigan is slated to discuss a temporary moratorium on data center development at its June meeting. This initiative stems from a request by the township's planning commission, chaired by Mike Lanham, following a fraudulent online real estate listing this spring that advertised 200 acres near Cedar as a "strategic location for data center development." Although the listing was a scam and has since been removed, it generated significant public interest and concern among residents.

Lanham explained that the false alarm prompted citizens to attend planning commission meetings, leading the commission to seek a 12 to 18-month moratorium. This pause would allow the commission adequate time to research and draft a comprehensive ordinance to regulate future data center proposals, potentially as an amendment to the existing zoning code or a new policing ordinance. The draft ordinance would undergo multiple reviews, including public hearings and approval by the Leelanau County Planning Commission, before final consideration by the township board.

This local development reflects a broader trend, with several Michigan communities also working on data center regulations. While a bipartisan bill for a statewide one-year moratorium was introduced in the Michigan House, Governor Gretchen Whitmer has expressed opposition to such a pause, instead supporting large data center projects like a recently broken-ground $7 billion development in Saline involving OpenAI, Oracle, and Related Digital, which she lauded as the state's largest economic project.