East Lansing is planning a week of events focused on data centers and artificial intelligence as city staff finalize draft rules for regulating the facilities.
The series, dubbed "Data Week," is scheduled for Oct. 19-23 and will span events at Michigan State University, the East Lansing Public Library and the Hannah Community Center, according to East Lansing Info. Principal Planner Landon Bartley said the week could include one final community meeting before staff brings draft ordinance language to the City Council.
Bartley said he hopes to introduce the draft ordinance at the Nov. 17 City Council meeting. The city's data center moratorium expires March 17, 2027.
The tentative Data Week schedule includes:
- Monday, Oct. 19: A presentation on data centers' environmental impacts at the city's Commission on the Environment meeting, plus a lunch-and-learn hosted by MSU's Center for Ethically and Socially Responsible Leadership.
- Tuesday, Oct. 20: The Quello Center at MSU has expressed interest in hosting an event.
- Wednesday, Oct. 21: A data science and AI summit at The Graduate, hosted by the MSU Research Foundation.
- Thursday, Oct. 22: The tentative schedule could include a cybersecurity class at the East Lansing Public Library and a community meeting at the Hannah Community Center that evening.
No events were listed for Friday, Oct. 23, as of Oct. 1. Bartley told East Lansing Info he expects more organizations and events to join the lineup.
Why the city is writing new rules
The East Lansing City Council first imposed a data center moratorium in March 2026 after discovering its zoning ordinance had no provisions for the facilities. Council members voted unanimously on Aug. 11 to extend the pause six months, as WKAR reported.
A city workgroup made up of staff from multiple departments, including public works and planning, met biweekly for months and produced a report covering environmental impacts, how other municipalities regulate data centers and specific policy recommendations. The group studied rules in Ann Arbor, Mason, Saline and jurisdictions in Virginia, Iowa and Missouri.
Staff also shared draft language with MSU professors Erik Nordman, director of the Institute of Public Utilities, and Jean Hardy, associate director of the Quello Center. Their feedback was generally positive, though they suggested differentiating between various scales of data centers and flagged some inconsistencies.
What the proposed rules would require
Among the workgroup's recommendations: data centers would need a special-use permit and a public hearing before approval, rather than receiving automatic approval from city staff when a project meets basic zoning rules. The workgroup also recommended mandating green building practices, including closed-loop cooling systems that reuse water instead of evaporating millions of gallons.
The city has only about 15 to 20 acres of industrial-zoned land spread across eight parcels, two owned by MSU. Because so little land qualifies, any data center proposal would likely require a rezoning, giving residents another chance to weigh in, Bartley said.
No data center developments were proposed in East Lansing as of WKAR's Aug. 12 report. The city had received several developer inquiries after the moratorium took effect in March 2026, but interest dropped off, Bartley told East Lansing Info in August.
"The last thing we want to do is get caught flat-footed with some data center proposal that we can't stop that's going to pollute our aquifer and make the neighboring areas unlivable," Mayor Erik Altmann told WKAR in August, when the council voted to extend the moratorium.
The Data Week schedule is tentative. Residents can contact the East Lansing Department of Planning, Building, and Housing at (517) 319-6930 for updates.
