Community members and University of Michigan officials gathered Wednesday, Sept. 9, to discuss concerns regarding the U-M and Los Alamos National Laboratory $1.2 billion data center project plotted for Ypsilanti Township.
The project is a joint venture between U-M and Los Alamos: a high-performance computing facility that would house both classified federal research and non-classified university research spanning medicine, clean energy and other sciences. University officials have said they plan to build on only a fraction of the 144-acre site, leaving the facility smaller than other industrial buildings already in the area.
The project’s site, situated adjacent to the Huron River, is positioned on Textile Road near Bridge Road in Ypsilanti Township. The project is set to be positioned near multiple residential areas.
Read more: U-M confirms Textile Road site for research computing facility - The Eastern Echo
Dozens of residents spoke at the Sept. 9 town hall, held at the Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest and live-streamed on the university’s YouTube channel, to oppose the project and voice their concerns to the project’s leaders.
The panel taking questions consisted of project head Steven Ceccio, project director Bob Green, Interim Vice President for Research and Innovation Patricia Hern, Interim Vice President for Finance Drew Smith, Vice President for Government Relations Chris Kolb, and DTE Director of Economic Development Khalil Rahal.
The event was moderated by Paul Corliss, who serves as the associate vice president for public affairs and information at U-M.
Several attendees expressed their frustration with the project.
“It [U-M] has broken my heart,”Lindsey Passmore, a community member and graduate of U-M, said during public comment.
Passmore said that the university had “long been a guardian of integrity and a leader for social justice,” which made the alum even more disappointed in the university’s initiative.
Ypsilanti Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo, who has been a fierce opponent of the project, took the mic last.
Read more: Ypsilanti data center fight continues after township meeting - The Eastern Echo
“We don’t deserve this; our people don’t deserve this," Stumbo said. “The emotion and the rage is fear. We don’t — they don’t — deserve this. Please, change your mind.”
Many community members expressed their issue with the Textile Road location.
Ceccio said that the space had drawn interest from Amazon for a last-mile distribution that, he said, would have brought roughly 1,000 delivery trucks each day up and down Textile Road before the company instead chose a site elsewhere. He contended that the university’s plan presents a less intrusive alternative, noting that the expansive plot provides room for landscaped mounds and dense tree barriers that a more confined parcel could not accommodate.
Much of the town hall’s anger was directed toward Ceccio, who is leading the project.
“I think that this event is necessary, and I think more of them will be necessary,” Ceccio said. “I think many of the issues and questions that were raised are legitimate questions.”
Ceccio said he understood the crowd’s frustrations, adding that if he were in the audience, he might be angry and fearful as well.
Los Alamos officials maintain no weapons would be manufactured on site. Thom Mason, director of Los Alamos, clarified in writing that the complex “would not be a military installation or weapons production site,” explicitly noting that plutonium alongside other hazardous or nuclear materials would neither be stored, utilized, nor generated at the location.
Read more: Frustration clouds U-M, Los Alamos data center project - The Eastern Echo
Nevertheless, Mason said that a portion of the computer modeling performed at the center “could relate to nuclear modernization.”
The site would also use a 90-10 funding structure where Los Alamos would occupy the bulk of the facility and pay rent to cover both operating costs and construction, Ceccio said.
The university has scheduled its next town hall for Oct. 1, 2026, with more detailed findings promised in the weeks after.
