Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

South Lyon City Council this week adopted a 12-month moratorium on new data center applications -- extending it beyond the original proposal of six months to match a similar pause recently enacted in Northville.

Mayor Stephen Kennedy noted language in the ordinance also strengthens South Lyon’s oversight of projects that come before council.

“It doesn’t preclude them from being able to put a data center in. It allows us to dictate the size of it, so that we don’t have somebody from the outside trying to put five pounds in a two-pound bag. We get the opportunity to specify what will be allowable. And in most cases, you wouldn’t be feasible because it isn’t adequate,” he told council Tuesday.

After attending recent informational meetings over a proposed data center in Lyon Township, city officials said the developer at that meeting described using large lithium‑ion battery packs for backup power and estimated water needs that prompted concern.

The developer said it could use up to 53,000,000 gallons per year from the area but proposed about 9,000,000 gallons per year for the facility. The only option, according to city officials, was tapping into the local aquifer.

The Lyon Township deputy fire chief also described training for lithium‑ion battery incidents, and council members noted such fires can be particularly difficult to extinguish and said the scale of commercial battery packs shown in the presentation exceeded household examples.

The ordinance also includes some legal protections against property owners seeking to cash-in on the data center hype.

“You need to come to us and tell us the facts as to why you’ve been aggrieved, or why your property is now restricted and of lower market value than what you originally thought you could do with it,” said Councilwoman Margaret Kurtzweil.

“As a lawyer, I’m looking at this and saying this is free discovery for me. You don’t need a subpoena. You don’t need a deposition. What you need is for them to come in here and state on the record, and then if there’s any difference in what they said at the meeting versus what they say in litigation, it makes the city’s case that much stronger.”

A draft of the moratorium can be viewed in City Council’s agenda packet linked below.