At the eastern edge of America’s “breadbasket” region, Michigan’s Saline Township is a quintessential agricultural community. The township is home to 2,200 residents, several family-owned farms and a small historic district—and a hyperscale data center will soon join the list.
The Saline Township Board voted earlier this month to settle a lawsuit in which development firm Related Digital and the landowners of the proposed construction site accused the township of exclusionary zoning, or of unfairly limiting what property owners can do and build on their land. This lawsuit, filed Sept. 12, came just two days after the board voted 4–1 against rezoning the site’s 575 acres of farmland for the company’s data center project.
A county judge certified the settlement last week, bringing a sudden end to the dispute amid intense opposition from Saline Township residents and elected officials, who expressed concern at public meetings regarding traffic, noise, and water and energy resources…