Three new conditions being submitted to the Howell Township Board by project developers on Friday, Dec. 5, might delay the vote scheduled for Monday on the rezoning change that would clear the way for a data center, said Michael Vogt, a real estate attorney representing the Randee LLC applicant team through the agent Stantec. Vogt said he will also be presenting these conditions at Monday’s meeting.
The new conditions being offered, according to Vogt, include:
• A closed loop system for cooling that would keep 300,00 gallons of water in cycle for 10 years to reduce water consumption.
• Allowing residents within 1,000 feet of the property line to opt into the applicant buying their home for the appraised value plus 1 percent. Residents within 2,500 feet of the property line can opt into getting their homes appraised before construction, and then again within 10 years; if the homeowners lose property value, the developer will pay the difference.
• An escrow fund of $100,000 initially will be established for the township to use to enforce against the data center. If the township wants to do any studies regarding consulting, reports or legal fees, the applicant is supplying the funds to do so. If the escrow fund drops below $25,000, the developer says it will be replenished back to $100,000, an arrangement that will be in effect for the operating life of the data center.
“People are, like, you’re offering these conditions, we don’t think you’ll actually comply with them,” Vogt said. “We say we’re so confident we’ll comply with them, we will give you the funds to enforce them against us.”
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Vogt said he’s heard mixed things from township officials about what the new conditions mean for Monday’s vote, that the addition of these new conditions might mean the proposal would once again go before the Howell Township and Livingston County planning commissions for their recommendation. Both boards previously recommended the Howell Township Board give thumbs down to the original proposal.
“(The board) can pass it, table it. They can send it back to the planning commission,” Vogt said. “They could say that these are new conditions and we’d like the planning commission to weigh in.”
Vogt also said the moving of Grand River Avenue is “unequivocally” not part of the plan.
However, at the Nov. 19 Livingston County Planning Commission meeting, Planning Commissioner Paul Funk of Oceola Township said developers had asked about re-routing Grand River Avenue.
“They (the developers) don’t intend to use the southern part (of the land) for four years,” Funk said at that meeting. “That’s because they asked us to consider moving Grand River. They’ve got the money. They want to do that. I don’t see it happening.”
Vogt said that moving Grand River Avenue is not part of the plan.
“We were surprised when it was brought up at the public meeting,” he said, adding that while the concept was mentioned once, it was never discussed further, and that the developer will definitely not be applying for a permit to move the historic Indian trail.
Vogt was among those at the science-fair type meeting on Thursday at Cleary University hosted by the Van Gilder family, which owns the lion’s share of the land up for rezoning. The developer is hoping to rezone about a thousand acres of land in the area of Grand River Avenue and Fleming Road from agricultural residential, single family residential, and neighborhood service commercial to research and technology, which would clear the way for a data center.
Thursday’s event was similar to the one held Nov. 10. Compared to that one, while there were fewer people in attendance, there were more officials on hand prepared to answer questions and present new data.
If approved, the data center project will be the largest development in Livingston County history. It will encompass over a thousand acres of farmland, and the $1 billion initial capital investment will immediately make it the county’s largest taxpayer; it would also open the door for similar projects down the road. While proponents point to the financial benefits of the development, opponents cite concerns about rising electricity costs, the strain on the area’s water supply, as well as light and sound pollution.
Along with the rezoning proposal, conditions already submitted include a 400-foot setback from roads and vegetation for screening. There would be 120 acres along the southern border of the property donated to the township for whatever use it chooses.
The developers are offering that less than 50 percent of the site be built on and the south site would not be developed for four years.
“If they approve a rezoning with any of these conditions we propose, then those are kind of the law of the land for this project,” Vogt said. “And any site plan that comes forward needs to comply with all these restrictions.”
DTE was at the event but declined to provide an on-the-record response regarding electricity rate concerns. At its booth, DTE had the Michigan Sales and Use Tax Exemption for Enterprise Data Centers displayed with this part highlighted in yellow: The DTE booth was presenting the Michigan sales and use tax exemption for enterprise data centers and states that “the facility will not take electric service if” it’s at a “rate that causes residential customers to subsidize the cost incurred to provide electric service to the facility.”
MHOG, the regional water system serving the property, had a booth at the event that was unmanned.
The Howell Public Schools and the Fowlerville Community Schools districts are expected to receive tax entities for state education, school debt and school operations. But the amount of taxes being raised locally can result in a decrease in the amount the state provides to the district.
“This corridor of taxable value growth has no impact on the operating dollars of a school,” said Michael Hubert, superintendent of the Livingston Education Service Agency. “It has to get billions and billions of dollars of taxable value changes before you can really get to operating dollar improvement for schools. But along the way, it could have a broader distribution of the debt millage.”
Hubert is trying to keep the school boards aware of what is going on, as well as making sure the information regarding any change in taxes for schools is accurate.
The Howell Township Board is currently set to vote on the rezoning at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8, at the Howell High School Rod Bushey Auditorium, 1200 W. Grand River Ave. in Howell.
