The community response to a proposed data center in Howell Township has been fascinating to watch. We have a few well-connected people in favor of it, and a whole lot of other people who hate it.
This situation is far from resolved and I have no idea whether the data center will eventually be built here or not.
What I do know, though, is that this has become one of the most controversial projects that Livingston County has ever seen.
With that in mind, then, here’s one man’s list of the Ten Most Controversial Projects in Livingston County History.
The data center doesn’t make the list – YET – because the situation is still ongoing, but when all is said and done, it might be a strong competitor for No. 1 on this list.
Until then, here’s the list of the projects that at least some of us really hated:
1. Waste Management landfill, Marion Township, 1988
In 1988, Waste Management proposed building a major landfill on 1,200 acres in Marion Township, south of Howell. It did not go well. There was a massive outcry against the dump, and after about three years and numerous denials, the project went away. Almost 40 years later, there is still no active landfill in the county.
2. Howell Township casino, 1998
You probably didn’t realize that the land around Burkhart Road and I-96 was an Indian reservation, did you? That’s what we were told in 1998, when the Bay Mills tribe proposed building a casino near the outlet mall.
A few people wanted it but most of Livingston County did not, and they flooded the newspaper with letters to the editor in opposition. Gov. John Engler said he would veto any plans to build a casino there, and the project eventually went away.
3. Walmart, Howell, 1991
Prior to 1991, Howell’s entire department store inventory consisted of Big Wheel, Ames (which was only open for a couple years), Consumers Discount and the old D&C Store downtown. That was it.
When Walmart announced plans to build its first Livingston County store in Genoa Township, though, the business community was outraged.
This will kill downtown! Think of the children!
Well, not only did downtown survive and thrive, but Walmart was so successful that it eventually built a bigger location across the street. (The original store was where Hobby Lobby is now.)
4. Ramco-Gershenson outlet mall, Brighton, 1989
In the late 1980s, all that land at the corner of Grand River Avenue and Challis Road was part of Genoa Township and it was largely undeveloped (aside from a motorcycle club that raced bikes there).
After the land was transferred to the City of Brighton, though, a development company called Ramco-Gershenson proposed building the county’s first outlet mall there. People in Brighton strongly opposed it (because it would cause too much traffic at that intersection, ha ha ha), and the city planning commission eventually turned it down.
Instead, Howell Township got the county’s first outlet mall seven years later and Brighton got a billion other stores on that land instead.
5. Hidden Lake, Green Oak Township, 1994
This one dragged on for several years, but it started in 1994 when a developer called Beck Development proposed building a housing development on the site of a former gravel pit. A well-organized group called Land Action of Green Oak (LAGO) formed to oppose it, saying the Hidden Lake development would destroy the land and ecosystem, and it dragged on through township meetings and the court system for years.
The developers finally won out, Hidden Lake was built, and it’s been doing just fine ever since.
6. The Capital Asphalt Plant, Genoa Township, 2022
One of our more recent controversial developments was this lovely project, which would have brought a 15,000-square-foot asphalt plant to a 16-acre parcel of land in Genoa Township north of I-96.
Noting that these kinds of planst tend to stink and smell and drive down property values, the community blew up, packing meeting after meeting until the Genoa Township Board eventually turned it down.
7. Oak Pointe, Genoa Township, mid-1980s.
Gorgeous homes, a couple beautiful golf courses, a lovely restaurant … who would want THAT?
Yes, it seems ridiculous now, but in the mid-1980s, the Oak Pointe development in Genoa Township was strongly opposed by the people who lived in that area. At the time, it was a sleepy summer resort called Burroughs Farms, and they didn’t want that to change.
They lost the fight, and Oak Pointe has been one of our most beautiful neighborhoods ever since.
8. The Latson Road PUD, 2020
The world of development in Livingston County changed a few years back when the Latson Road interchange at I-96 opened up, and Latson was extended over the highway. The opened up all the land south of I-96 to potential development, much to the chagrin of the people who live along Latson Road south of I-96.
The controversy rages to this day, but it started in 2020 when the Genoa Township Board quietly rezoned 193 along Latson Road south of I-96 to allow for a multitude of commercial developments. It’s called a Planned Unit Development (PUD).
Another plan popped up in 2023 for more development and the community has been in strong opposition ever since. They say the big commercial projects don’t fit with all the 5- and 10-acre homesteads in the area.
9. The Brighton Optimist Skate Park, Brighton, 1996
Skateboarders were Public Enemy No. 1 to a lot of people in Brighton in the mid-1990s, and they hated the fact that the kids were skating at Brighton High School and anywhere else they could find some pavement.
The Brighton Optimist Club took up the mission to build a skateboard park in town, so the kids would have a place to skate, but when the Optimists proposed building the park on a parcel near the Miller School, a good portion of the community went bonkers.
A few years later, the Meijer store offered up some land behind its store for the skateboard park, and that’s where it was built.
10. Sheetz Gas Station, Hartland, 2025
Sheetz is a gas station mega-mall and they serve gas, snacks, food, coffee, auto parts, gift items, and a ton of other stuff, and they sell all that stuff 24/7. They want to build a new gas station at the nightmare intersection of M-59 and U.S. 23 in Hartland, and a bunch of residents are opposing it.
Because of the traffic? No. You’d get laughed out of any meeting in Hartland if you said anything about traffic, because traffic is all that Hartland has. One more store opening or closing isn’t going to move the needle one whit.
Instead, they oppose it because it’ll be open 24/7, and we all know that 24/7 businesses tend to attract all the wrong elements. And we can’t have that.
Despite the somewhat vocal opposition, Sheetz has cleared every hurdle and should be opening in the next few months. So depending on your point of view, the community is in deep sheetz.
