NEGAUNEE, Mich. (WZMQ) – On Thursday evening, the City of Negaunee passed an ordinance adding numerous regulations to the possibility of a data center in its surrounding area.
While the city has not received any outside interest of building a data center around its community, the planning and zoning commission has worked since the beginning of the year to create a strict set of guidelines if a proposal were to enter Negaunee.
These include certain limits to power consumption, noise, vibration, building size, community impacts, and would require an environmental impact assesment.
Planning and Zoning Administrator David Nelson says more amendments will continue to be added to the ordinance, as the city now has more time to do so than with a moretorium.
“A moretorium is a temporary stopgap. By having an ordinance in place, you set up specific guardrails that a proposed data center would have to abide by, and by doing so we would ensure the health and safety of the city of Negaunee,” he said.
The ordinance passed 3-2, with the absence of one board member.
