Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

There is a growing number of Howell Township residents voicing their opposition to a proposed data center off Grand River and Fleming Road.

Officials toured a similar facility in Ohio this week.

Nearly 200 people have joined Facebook page dedicated to the $1 billion capital investment, called "Howell, MI Data Center Discussion," linked below.

"Thirteen-hundred acres being zoned from agriculture to industrial on the main corridor of Grand River Avenue is a big deal," says resident Cory Alchin.

"Secondarily, I called Saline Township, because they just voted theirs down last week. They found that facility, which is smaller than the one being proposed in Howell, uses 30 times the amount of electricity the entire township uses as a whole. Then there's the water issue, proposed at one to two million gallons a day."

Alchin and others say they're frustrated due to what they perceive as a lack of transparency over the project, which is the focus of a public hearing scheduled at Tuesday evening's Planning Commission meeting.

"They're talking about lots of construction jobs, but 50 long term jobs. So there isn't a great impact to long term longevity for job prospects in the township. It just doesn't exist," he says.

Alchin says the Howell Township proposal is just one of several across mid-Michigan.

"Even if it's five of these facilities, you're sucking gallons of water a day out of the ground across all of them. All of the electrical impact and environmental impact, it's scary and nobody has great answers."

Ryan Van Gilder, whose family owns most of the land up for rezoning, told the Livingston Post the project involves a "Fortune 100 technology firm that develops, owns and operates technology campuses globally as an end user and owner/operator," and is well-received wherever it goes.

"We actually chose this specific developer because of this reason,” Van Gilder told the Post. "We had our choice."

Howell Township Planning Commission is scheduled to meet at 6:30 pm Tuesday. The agenda packet is attached below.