Raeden v. Gibraltar MI data center moratorium challenge (2026)

United States federal court — RAEDEN ACQUISITIONS and CAL REALTY v. CITY OF GIBRALTAR, Michigan (Wayne County), a FEDERAL lawsuit claiming the city's ONE-YEAR DATA CENTER MORATORIUM unlawfully stopped the plaintiffs' application for a proposed 100-MEGAWATT data center from moving forward. PLAINTIFFS' STATED OBJECTIVE, per Raeden President and co-founder JASON GREEN: the suit is NOT about bypassing the city's review process but about GETTING THAT PROCESS MOVING AGAIN and ENSURING THE APPLICATION IS REVIEWED UNDER GIBRALTAR'S EXISTING CODE. THAT IS THE VESTED-APPLICATION THEORY STATED PLAINLY, and it is the counterpart to a pattern documented repeatedly from the municipal side in this dataset: Salem OR 120-day data center moratorium (Res. 2026-40) (a Verrus application filed days before the council vote, which reporting held the moratorium may not reach), Rockford IL six-month data center moratorium (2026) (a pre-existing annexation agreement placing the Monarch site outside the pause), Cle Elum WA emergency data center moratorium (2026) (a 2002 development agreement that may permit the Blue Fern project regardless) and Lowell MA Markley data center diesel generator injunction (2026) (Markley sued over a March 2026 moratorium and settled for the right to proceed with pre-moratorium plans). Raeden asserts the principle affirmatively rather than relying on it defensively. SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE INDEXED COHORT: this is the SECOND developer challenge to municipal data center moratoriums recorded here, after NJ developer litigation against municipal data center bans (2026), and the two plead different theories \u2014 the New Jersey suits attack the ordinances as arbitrary and, in Monroe Township's case, as a First Amendment burden, whereas Raeden's framing is procedural and vesting-based, which is the narrower and historically more successful ground. FEDERAL FORUM: the choice of federal court, rather than Michigan circuit court, implies constitutional claims (due process and/or takings) alongside any state land-use theory; THE SPECIFIC CAUSES OF ACTION ARE NOT STATED in the located source. CONTEXT: Michigan officials elsewhere have expressly designed around this exposure \u2014 Garfield Township MI data center and crypto mining ban (2026) records township officials choosing a zoning-ordinance-amendment route because municipalities enacting 'knee-jerk moratoriums' 'are being challenged and losing in court'. Gibraltar's own moratorium is NOT separately indexed. STATUS: complaint stage, no ruling; strength `unknown`. [2026-10-01] Filed Aug. 17, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by Raeden Acquisitions with CAL Realty LLC (CBS Detroit; News-Herald: 'U.S. District Court in Detroit'). Site: former McLouth steel mill, 27800 W. Jefferson Ave. (CAL owns; Raeden under purchase agreement). City response (Facebook post reported by News-Herald Sept. 30): McKenna hired to draft a data center zoning ordinance; Planning Commission, Ordinance Steering Committee and counsel reviewed the draft; city will vigorously defend. Underlying moratorium: one-year, approved in March (News-Herald). Case number not reported.