Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Howell Township Trustee Bob Wilson is spearheading a data center committee to study the pros and cons of a proposed facility that many fear will drive up both energy and water costs for nearby residents.

"By creating a committee, that committee is on the agenda every board meeting. What this really did is give the committee a spot on the board, where we can actually have a discussion at every board meeting until they get rid of the committee," Wilson told WHMI News.

Wilson calls it an effort to maintain transparency about the proposed data center, bringing together those on both sides of the issue.

"I'm the chair. They put Tim Boal on there as a planning commission member. We have a whole bunch of people who will be on it that are very intelligent."

Wilson said there's no cap on how many people can be on the committee, but it's more about having discussion about during the committee engagement.

"It's just a backwards way of creating a spot for people to talk and actually get answers from the board."

The project, from developers Stantec Consulting Michigan Inc. and Randee LLC, would occupy a 1,077-acre site of largely agricultural land north of I-96.

In its rezoning request, Randee said the $1 billion data center would bring in 1,000 temporary construction jobs and would "likely generate more tax revenue than many of the largest taxpayers in Livingston County combined."

A change.org petition titled "Stop the Construction of Michigan’s Largest Data Center in Howell" so far has collected 2,763 signatures as of Monday.

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