Zeeland Township MI data center and energy facility moratorium (2026)

Zeeland Township, Mich. (Ottawa County) — NEW YEAR-LONG MORATORIUM ON DATA CENTERS AND ENERGY FACILITIES approved by the township board, 'replacing a previous moratorium the board REPEALED AT THE SAME TUESDAY MEETING.' THE REPEAL-AND-REPLACE MECHANISM IS THE PROCEDURALLY DISTINCTIVE FEATURE. The ordinary route to more time is EXTENSION, which in most frameworks requires affirmative findings — that the condition persists and that the adopting body has made good-faith progress toward permanent regulations (e.g. 30-A M.R.S. § 4356 renewals; Cal. Gov. Code § 65858 extensions, each requiring notice, hearing and a written report on measures taken to alleviate the condition; Wisconsin's 12-plus-one-6-month practice). REPEALING AND RE-ENACTING RESTARTS THE CLOCK WITH A FRESH INSTRUMENT RATHER THAN ADDING TIME TO AN OLD ONE, which may avoid the findings an extension would require. WHETHER THAT WAS THE PURPOSE IS NOT ESTABLISHED AND IS NOT ASSERTED — the scope also changed, and re-enactment is the natural vehicle for a scope change. Michigan townships adopt interim/temporary zoning under the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act (MCL 125.3101 et seq.); no express statutory ceiling is asserted here. SCOPE EXPANSION TO 'ENERGY FACILITIES' IS SUBSTANTIVE, NOT COSMETIC. A hyperscale data center is ordinarily accompanied by substation capacity and frequently by on-site generation or battery energy storage; a pause reaching the computing use but not the generating infrastructure leaves the larger and often more locally contentious build unregulated. The same judgment is recorded at West Mahanoy Township PA curative amendment, data centers and solar (2026), which declared the township's zoning ordinance invalid as to 'data centers, solar farms, ON-SITE POWER GENERATION, and accessory uses related thereto' in a single instrument, and at the Leominster MA measure reported to combine a one-year moratorium on BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS and data centers (in the unwritten queue). Irwindale CA data center ban ordinance (2026)'s findings recite 'continuous electrical demand, often supported by diesel or gas-powered' backup, which is the impact these paired measures are reaching. MICHIGAN CLUSTER: Raeden v. Gibraltar MI data center moratorium challenge (2026) (a developer challenge to a Michigan municipal moratorium — the reason Michigan moratoria should not be assumed unchallengeable), plus Genoa Township (one-time six-month extension), Perry (180-day), Marshall, Wixom and Cadillac Area Public Schools, all in the unwritten queue. NOT ESTABLISHED: the vote, the exact date, the ordinance number, the term and scope of the REPEALED moratorium, what changed between the two instruments beyond the addition of energy facilities, and whether any application was pending at the moment of repeal — which would matter, since a gap between repeal and re-enactment, however brief, is the kind of window a developer can file into.