VBT approves 15-yr. tax exemptions for Google data center

The Van Buren Township Board of Trustees unanimously approved a 50% tax exemption for 15 years for Google’s new 1 gigawatt data center.
The action was taken more than three hours after the May 19 meeting started. There was an overflow crowd in the meeting room and more people across the hall watching proceedings on a TV tuned into the township’s channel 12.
Five separate motions were approved after lots of public comment. First was an hour-long public hearing comment session during which 25 people spoke, each for 3 minutes or less.
After that, supervisor McNamara gave a presentation “in my own way” on the issue. He said he wrote it out in advance. He said they keep getting the same questions and the answers have been given.
He said the property was rezoned Industrial in 2005. He said in 2018, the township had workshops where the township asked residents what they wanted their township to look like, including where would they would like data centers and they said in Industrial, which is the highest, most-intensive use.
He said the state of Michigan has extreme rules on property rights and the person who owns the property has the right to sell to an industrial developer.
McNamara said the township has two big problems, with two-lane roads throughout the township, as well as two freeways, I-94 and I-275, that bring nothing but truck traffic into the township. He said they are trying to duck truck traffic and are avoiding distribution companies and warehouses.
“We have the largest data center in the state here – JP Morgan Chase,” he said. “Nobody seems to know it exists. It’s quiet. It’s clean.”
He said Panattoni developers came along and they thought it was a warehouse they were looking at and they were not excited because the township would end up with more trucking.
“I have to admit when we found out it was a data center, we were kind of happy,” he said. “When Facebook hit, our jaws dropped. We didn’t realize there was that much problem with data centers in our community. So everybody here was upset. I was upset. A sleepless month…
“But then we started looking into the Facebook claims. Frankly, I haven’t seen a single solitary, claim against data centers on Facebook that are true. They all are misinformation.
“I’m gonna tell you what we have done. We have listened to you with every, single solitary question. And because we listened, we basically made a stronger, stronger agreement that will be presented later in the meeting.”
He said on sound, they actually went to the Google center in New Albany, Ohio, and sent engineers there. He said township people walked the neighborhoods and talked to people and to the schools and they had no problem with sound. But sound monitoring was written into the agreement and if they violate that they lose the tax deal, McNamara said.
He talked about upgrades to the agreement on water and berms and other things and said whatever the township asked for Google gave them.
He finished up his presentation on why he believes this data center is a good idea for this community.
Then, there was a public comment period for items on the agenda. This took about another hour during which 19 people spoke on the data center, most of whom had spoken during the public hearing.
Most of the speakers said they were against the data center, but a handful of men spoke in support of what the center will bring the township.
Representatives of Panattoni and Google gave preseentations on the data center that lasted about an hour as board members questioned them on details. Then the votes came.
The motions approved were:
• Establishing Industrial Development District #27 on about 280 acres between Haggerty, Hannan, and I-94 N. Service Drive. The township is given the authority to establish this district by Act. No. 198 of the Michigan Public Acts of 1974, as revised;
• Granting a Real Industrial Facilities Tax Exemption for Google for a 36-month construction period and 12-year tax abatement on real property taxes. Total of Real and Personal costs is $7,805,724,103. The company shall deliver $15.4 million to Van Buren Township for township-wide capital projects;
• Granting a Personal Industrial Facilities Tax Exemption for Google;
• Approving a memorandum of understanding between the township and Google, with details about obligations for both the township and Google related to financial commitments and other contractual items; and
• Approving a development agreement between the township and developer Panattoni for the data center development concerning the phasing of the development and details of the construction. Treasurer Sharry Budd added wording to the basic motion for approval. She said Panatonni will not install any groundwater wells and all the water used and cooling tower blow down will go to pipes to the South Huron Valley Authority, none into the ground. The final language will be addressed by legal counsel She said this was agreed to elsewhere, but she wanted to confirm it in this motion.
At the very beginning of the meeting, a woman called out a question from the audience and supervisor Kevin McNamara warned the crowd that there will be no outbursts during this meeting. He said if that happens, the person may be asked to leave.
Township attorney David F. Greco sat at the board table with the full board, but did not speak during the meeting.
Supervisor McNamara directed trustee Donald Boynton to read the board’s conduct policy that had been adopted by the board in 2024. The policy requires people not to speak unless called upon by the chairperson. And speakers must use civil language with no personal attacks, profanity, and anything deemed offensive to others. There also should be no debate with board members. No catcalls, whistling, or clapping. Police officers serve as security officers and those not following the rules may be asked to leave and if they don’t they may be escorted out by police, as determined by the chairperson.
As the meeting began, the policy was followed, but then, a man who was late and missed the reading of the policy, started piping up and then others clapped and called out and the rules started unraveling. There was a lot of calling out and clapping heard from the overflow room across the hall.
One woman refused to stop talking after her 3 minutes were up and supervisor McNamara asked her to stop and then when she didn’t directed police to escort her out. She kept on talking and screamed when they touched her and escorted her from the room. Later she returned to the meeting room.
This meeting lasted three and a half hours, in contrast to the previous week’s planning commission meeting that approved a data center electric substation that lasted seven hours.
In other business at the May 19 meeting, the board:
• Approved a motion, added to the agenda during the meeting, to purchase real property. The board had met in closed-door session an hour before the regular meeting to consider the purchase of real property, but no explanation of the site was given. McNamara later said it will be disclosed once the purchase goes through and it will be kept secret at this point to protect the price of the property. He said he couldn’t make an offer without board approval;
• Approved the re-appointments of Eileen Parent and Walter Rochowiak to the Water and Sewer Commission, with terms to expire June 1, 2028;
• Approved a resolution adopting the 2026 tax rate request: allocated millage of 0.8917 and extra voted millage for public safety of 6.3803 for a total of 7.2720 mills. The township’s taxable value of real and personal property for 2026 is $1,599,852,952, so the tax amounts to $11,634,130;
• Approved the second reading and adoption of an ordinance to update the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority Sanitary Sewer Rules as required by the township’s agreement with YCUA. It concerns controlling pollutants that might be put into the wastewater. It was explained that the township does not have any industrial properties that discharge into the sewer, but it must update the rules under their agreement. Boynton was not at the board table for this vote;
• Approved the second reading and adoption of an amendment to the township zoning ordinance regarding temporary land use approvals for firework tents. The administration now has the power to approve firework tents that in the past have been approved and have operated without difficulty. This relieves the fire tent requester from having to appear before the planning commission year after year with the exact request;
• Heard clerk Leon Wright say he moved to the township in 1994 and has spent 18 years in office. He lives about a quarter mile from the proposed data center. He said there are about 20,000 rooftops in Van Buren Township and the township gets just one mill of taxes for operation. He said it is hard for him to hear all the cat calls and threats. He said he is working for the township and he knows how responsible Google is as a company. He said, “We’re all in this together”; and
• Heard McNamara say that he is open to talk to people about their concerns and anyone who wants to talk is welcome to come to his office.