Data center restrictions tracker · Michigan

Penn Township Board, Michigan: data center moratorium (2026)

Data snapshot 2026-08-15 · part of Pricing the Fear of Data Centers

Penn Township Board, in Cass County, Michigan, adopted a data-center moratorium on May 11, 2026. Its status in this snapshot is enacted.

The record reads: "Penn Township approved a 30-day moratorium on data centers 5-1; Trustee Scott Peters cast lone dissent wanting longer. Hundreds packed the meeting. Diamond Lake Association had requested at least 2 years. Planning commission tasked with… (datacentertracker.org)."

Details

ActionClassStatusDateMW thresholdScopeSource
MoratoriumrestrictionenactedMay 11, 2026not county-widedatacentertracker.org

Jurisdiction type: municipality. County: Cass County. Dataset: datacentertracker. Snapshot August 15, 2026; documented actions, not a census.

Elsewhere in Cass County

Michigan context

Michigan has 88 documented local actions across 84 jurisdictions in this snapshot. At the state level, Consumers Energy territory has a large-load tariff (enacted, November 6, 2025).

A town that says no to a data center gives up local tax revenue, not jobs: one large campus pays $2M to $90M a year depending on the tax regime, against roughly 50 permanent jobs. The parent piece prices it and lists the conditions that beat a ban.

Sources

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