Lowell Township Wants to Fire the Officials Who Voted for Microsoft
Microsoft wants to build a data center on 237 acres in Lowell Township, which is a small community about 20 miles outside Grand Rapids, MI. As many people know, these data centers draw enormous amounts of power and water, they run loudly and all the time, and once construction ends there usually aren't many jobs left behind.
Lowell's residents tried to do the same thing. In May, the township board had a chance to pass a six month moratorium on data center approvals so the township could study the impact before committing to anything. The board voted it down, 5 to 2. Three officials, Supervisor Jerry Hale and Trustees Mark Anderson and William Thompson, voted no.
Residents were furious. Now, they are trying to remove those three officials from office. The Kent County Elections Commission approved seven recall petitions against them on June 16, unanimously. The group running this, Lowell Township Recall, has until July 31 to collect 894 signatures per official. Get there, and voters decide in November whether Hale, Anderson, and Thompson keep their seats.
This isn't the group's first attempt. An earlier version of the petition got rejected for being too vague, basically just "we're mad," without anything specific tied to it. This time, the petitions point to actual recorded votes. One cites a March vote where the board upheld a decision to withhold public records (a FOIA request) related to the data center rezoning process. Another cites the moratorium vote itself. Naming specific votes instead of just venting anger is likely why this version got approved.
On June 8, the planning commission held a meeting that ran almost six and a half hours, with Microsoft presenting its plans while residents pushed back loudly enough that the board couldn't even reach a decision that night. Microsoft has lined up $17.5 million in state economic development money for this project, on top of whatever the company itself is spending. The complaint that is resonating with a lot of residents is that officials keep choosing Microsoft's interests over the community's, whether that's the moratorium vote or withholding the records.The three officials now have ten days to appeal the commission's decision.
Lowell isn't alone here. Augusta Township is headed toward its own August ballot vote over a data center, and a separate recall effort is playing out in Lyon Township for the same reason. It's easier for a township board to approve a data center than it is to explain to voters afterward why they did it.