Information received by data center opponents from Howell Township under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reveals that multiple township officials signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with the developer.
For opponents, this bolstered one of their biggest claims about the data center proposal, that township officials have been anything but transparent about the project. While township officials say they’ve fulfilled all their legal obligations, Cory Alchin, one of the organizers of Stop the Data Center – Livingston, said officials have “allowed their hands to be tied by an NDA while simultaneously acting as negotiators on our behalf,” a move he claims is “morally and ethically wrong.”
Make no mistake: This data center proposal is gargantuan. It’s the biggest ever pitched in Livingston County: If it moves forward, this project will encompass over a thousand acres of farmland, and the $1 billion initial capital investment of the unnamed tech company (said to be Meta by one township official) will immediately make it Livingston County’s largest taxpayer; it would also open the door for similar projects down the road. (Click here for our initial story on the project.)
“The citizens deserve to have a say at the negotiating table,” Alchin said. “They deserve to be part of the community development agreement. Instead, we are being told the developer is ‘watching our concerns’ from the Facebook page.
“This couldn’t be a more unprofessional, dishonest and disrespectful manner of communicating with the community. And yet, our township officials allow it to continue.”
But Josh Hohenstein, Howell Township’s treasurer, and Sue Daus, Howell Township’s clerk, said in a joint phone call that the NDAs were signed because the developer said it would be divulging confidential information; when it was clear no confidential information was being shared, the NDAs were rescinded. They were unsure as to when the rescinding took place.
Alchin said he learned NDAs were not signed by Augusta Township officials in the data center project that’s moving forward in Saline. (Calls to Augusta Township officials were not returned as of publication time. We will update this story if we receive further information.)
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Opponents of the data center are also upset that they found out about the proposal just days before the rezoning request of the thousand acres of farmland to accommodate the data center went before the Howell Township Planning Commission (which voted unanimously against the request).
Hohenstein pushed back against that.
“This is the way the process is set up,” Hohenstein said. “We have deadlines we have to meet to get things on agendas and in our packets. In the case of the planning commission, that was a public hearing.”
Hohenstein said the township followed all the regulations.
“This is how it works for every other development,” he said. “As long as we can meet those deadlines, then we have met our obligation. Are there projects where those letters and the public hearing is set up earlier? Sure. But not by much. And, again, as long as we meet those deadlines, we’ve done what we need to do. … claiming that we’re not being transparent is just not understanding how the process works.”
But Alchin maintains that with a project of this magnitude, township officials should have treated it with more urgency than just fulfilling their legal requirements.
“You have an obligation, a duty to represent the people,” Alchin said. “Your job is more than doing just the bare minimum. This is the biggest zoning change in township history.
“I was taken aback. This is the biggest change in township history and 98% of the people did not know it was happening. They sent out their letters (to homeowners within a certain distance of the land), but that was it. It’s about doing what’s right.”
Alchin said it’s simple: “It does not take a lot of work to do this the right way.”
The meeting at which the Howell Township Board will vote on a moratorium on the data center project is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, at the Rod Bushey Performing Arts Center Howell High School Auditorium, 1200 W. Grand River Ave.
