In the wake of the data center proposal in Howell Township, Deb Drick, chair of the Livingston County Republican party, took it upon herself to make a trip to New Albany, Ohio, to find out for herself what life is like in the community that has embraced data centers.
In fact, New Albany has so wholeheartedly embraced data centers that there are 84 of them in the city located 15 miles northeast of Columbus, Ohio’s capital. New Albany will soon be home to Meta’s upcoming Prometheus gigawatt-capable facility — the first of its kind in the world — which should come online in 2026.
“I saw so many rumors from people who claimed to have done their homework, but it was all contradictory,” Drick said. “So I finally said I would dig in myself.”
Drick, who made the trip with Howell Township Clerk Sue Daus, will talk about what she learned in New Albany, and show a video of what she saw there.
The data center is being pitched for 1,000 acres of land that includes the Van Gilder farm, a site that runs along Grand River Avenue, bounded by Fleming Road to the east, a bit past Marr Road to the north, and a bit past Owosso Road to the west; a sliver of it is in Handy Township.
Those thousand acres are roughly equal to about two square miles.
For those of us who appreciate visual comparisons, the size of the data center property would be larger than the entirety of Oak Pointe in Genoa Township, which still ranks as the largest residential/golf development in Livingston County.
Opposition to the proposal has been organized and fierce, with concerns raised over whether it would skyrocket the price of electricity, and whether it would could safely draw enough water to keep its servers cooled without threatening supplies in the area.
According to DataCenterMap.com, there are 57 data centers in Michigan; if the Howell Township data center proposal comes to fruition, that facility will be the largest in the state of Michigan.
Maria Stuart worked at The Livingston County Press/ Livingston County Daily Press & Argus as a reporter, editor and managing editor. These days, she runs The Livingston Post.
The data center is being pitched for 1,000 acres of land that includes the Van Gilder farm, a site that runs along Grand River Avenue, bounded by Fleming Road to the east, a bit past Marr Road to the north, and a bit past Owosso Road to the west; a sliver of it is in Handy Township.
