Public notice: Freedom Township

The Freedom Township Board in Washtenaw County, Michigan has passed Ordinance No. 56, enacting a 1-year moratorium on new data center development in the township. The moratorium is intended to allow the Freedom Township Planning Commission time to study the potential impacts of data centers on the township's infrastructure, utilities, tax base, and overall land use planning. The Planning Commission will make recommendations to the Board on necessary policies and regulations for data centers. The moratorium can be extended by the Board for additional 180-day periods if needed, until the township adopts new policies and ordinances to address data center development. Property owners can appeal the moratorium if they can demonstrate it results in a loss of all viable economic use of their property. The township has identified concerns around data center impacts on utilities, zoning, tax revenue, and job-to-acreage ratios that it wants to address through this temporary pause on new data center projects.