A packed crowd filled the Ypsilanti Township Civic Center July 15 as residents and local officials renewed their pledge to block a proposed University of Michigan and Los Alamos Laboratory computing facility from breaking ground in the township.
The meeting was the latest standoff over the $1.25 billion project, which U-M describes as a high-performance computational research center supporting medicine, climate sciences, energy and national security. Township officials reject that framing, pointing instead to the facility’s ties to nuclear weapons research and its scale; plans call for a 240,000 square foot classified building alongside a smaller, non-classified facility.
Township Attorney Douglas Winters told the crowd he’s frustrated by months of evasive answers from U-M and Los Alamos representatives, and made clear the township is no longer interested in negotiations.
“Right now the only community benefit that we would want is for you to get the hell out of this township,” Winters said.
Multiple citizens brought opposition signs to the civic center.
Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo struck a more helpful tone, noting that other Michigan communities have beaten back similar data center proposals and saying she believes the township can do the same.
Ypsilanti Township residents were also given the opportunity to speak; with citizens noting family members attending schools nearby the proposed site for the project, environmental issues, along with socioeconomic division between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. Winters noted that this was one of the main reasons, in his view, the data center is proposed in the Township, instead of in Ann Arbor.
"Once you cross U.S. 23-Carpenter Road, totally different story because we are viewed differently," Winters said, "Our population is much more diversified. The opportunity index that we have clearly shows the disparity that exists in Washtenaw County is still divided by race."
The meeting comes after the project, which was announced in late 2024, reaches its climax in tension between the community and U-M officials. U-M has repeatedly pushed back, with spokesperson Paul Corliss maintaining the center wouldn't store or handle hazardous materials and disputing the township's description of the site as a high-value attack target.
The fight has also become part of a broader statewide debate: this month the Huron Valley Area Labor Federation called for a moratorium on large-scale data centers, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office floated separate state regulations on the industry.
Both the Textile Road and American Center for Mobility at Willow Run sites remain under active consideration, and township leaders say they will keep fighting no matter which one U-M chooses.
