Alpena County officials say the county planning commission would have limited authority over any future data center proposal, leaving local cities and townships to make the key decisions on zoning, site plans and approvals.
County Administrator Jesse Osmer discussed the issue Thursday, Sept. 2, during an Alpena County Planning Commission meeting. He said the Alpena Board of Commissioners is already working on a resolution related to data centers, even though no company has approached the county about building one in the area.
“We don’t know of any facilities that are coming up here anytime soon, but with that being said, we obviously know what they’re looking for,” Osmer said. “We would be prime real estate for that. Obviously we have concerns.”
Local municipalities would make the decisions
Osmer told attendees that cities, villages and townships have jurisdiction over planning, zoning, site-plan reviews, approvals and code enforcement connected to data centers and related uses. A company seeking to develop on county land would have to follow the rules of the municipality where the property is located.
“Local cities, villages, and townships actually have the jurisdiction over planning zoning, site plan reviews, approvals, code enforcement related to data centers and their affiliated uses,” Osmer said. “In accordance with their adopted plans, ordinances and procedures, the county does not have jurisdiction over planning development or approval for those data centers.”
Osmer said the county’s role could be even narrower if county-owned property were involved or if county property needed to be rezoned. In that situation, he said, the county would have an advisory role through the coordinating zoning committee.
Planning commission members also explained that the commission can review and comment on proposals sent by townships, but it cannot approve or reject them. Board member Michelle Smith said the commission is not made up of elected commissioners and therefore does not vote on those matters.
“The townships ... they send us what they’re doing and we get to review it. We can make remarks and comments. We can make suggestions, we can weigh in on it. We can’t say we don’t agree or we do agree,” Smith said.
Commission considers moratorium language
Community members who spoke during Thursday’s meeting urged officials to vote on a data center moratorium. A moratorium is a temporary pause or delay involving a specific action or legal activity.
Osmer said the county commissioners’ resolution has been in development for about two months. He described the work as an effort to prepare for possible interest while acknowledging that no data center project is currently known to be moving forward locally.
“I want to give you a little bit of peace of mind by letting you know the board of commissioners is looking at a resolution,” Osmer said. “We’re just kind of crossing our T's and dotting our I's on that. It’s been in the works for two months now.”
Board members discussed whether language addressing a data center moratorium should be included in the county’s master plan. Osmer said each municipality would also need to adopt its own language if it wanted a local moratorium.
He said the county could send municipalities a letter recommending that they refrain from taking action that would bring data center facilities into the area, but stressed that such a letter would not be an ordinance.