At the Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, Ypsilanti City Council meeting, council members discussed an ordinance to impose an emergency moratorium on issuance of new zoning permits for data centers in the City of Ypsilanti for 60 days.
The council passed the first reading of the ordinance to impose an emergency moratorium with amendments.
"This is similar to emergency ordinance done in the past," Andrew Hellenga, the city manager, said. "This will provide 60 days to allow council and the planning commission to finish their work on the zoning update."
In March of this year, City Council voted to approve a moratorium that would temporarily halt new zoning permits for data centers within city limits. Since then, Councilor Amber Fellows, Ward 3, stated that the city has continued to extend the moratorium and is able to continue doing so until March of 2027 if they wish.
Many Ypsilanti residents who attended the meeting emphasized the importance of the council voting yes on this ordinance and encouraged council to extend the moratorium.
"I do think that for the sake of not only the council, the community of Ypsilanti as a whole, that you guys say yes to the moratorium and also extend it to maybe 80 or 120 days. It really doesn't matter to me. Just make sure that we do not have a data center," Quanzelle Wyatt, an Ypsilanti resident, stated.
Fellows mentioned later in the meeting that she hopes that the council can continue to renew this moratorium.
"I hope that we continue renewing this until we are confident as a community that we have a really good legislative strategy to approach this topic," she said.
One resident requested that City Council ask for a statewide moratorium against data centers. Other residents at the meeting agreed with this statement. Fellows was not opposed to this idea.
"I really appreciated that comment about the statewide data center moratorium resolution," Fellows said. "I think that's a good idea and one we should pursue."
Councilor Patrick McLean, Ward 2, contemplated on whether or not what council was doing was causing an impact or if they should push their efforts to the state.
Fellows also mentioned that the proposed zoning tax amendment that would create allowances for data centers in the city is scheduled for Sept. 15, 2026.
There has been a lot of worry about the legal risks of not making allowances for data centers as fast as possible, Fellows said, and not enough worry about the risks to the community, as far as the environment and the long-term impact.
"I agree with the public that we need to do the best legislation we could possibly do," Fellows stated. She shared with council that when developing legislative strategies, that the process needs to be more of a democratic process. She believes that there needs to be either a task force or a committee works so that the public can give input to make the legislative changes.
Desirae Simmons, Ward 3, stated that she would like more engagement with the Ypsilanti community prior to the Sept. 15 City Council meeting to discuss with the public the proposed tax amendment.
"We can start to look at what ideas folks have," Simmons said.
In particular, Simmons hopes to communicate and connect with people in the community who have been focused on the issue.
"I think we could actually put something together that could be more strong when it comes to us, so that then people can see how we're working alongside them as opposed to kind of trying to impose something when they have been really clear," she said.
Fellows mentioned that she has gotten nonstop messages from the Ypsilanti community concerning the tax amendment. There is not a lack of talent and interest in the community to improve upon what has been offered, she added.
Ypsilanti City Council members developed a motion where the tax amendment would come to the council as a discussion topic. The discussion topic would include an informational presentation with no action attached, where the council can ask questions and have a conversation. In addition, the council wants to look into public engagement in person and virtually with this discussion topic. This motion passed after receiving a yes from all council members.
