YPSILANTI TWP., MI – For some people, the choice of where to put an Ypsilanti Township data center is as simple as looking at two pictures.

The first shows a former General Motors plant site in the gray hues of parking lot and concrete. The second is the grassy green of more than 100 acres near the Huron River.

“That explains it all,” Brenda Stumbo, the Ypsilanti Township supervisor, told MLive/The Ann Arbor News. “You don’t even need words.”

The aerial photos, displayed during a Wednesday evening informational meeting, are the two potential sites for a data center project spearheaded by the University of Michigan and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The first is the American Center for Mobility, 2701 Airport Drive. The second is roughly 150 acres located on Textile Road. While no selection has been formally announced, township leaders are hoping to push the project toward the Airport Drive location – and concrete.

Still, residents have questions.

Risks to the environment, resident health and national security were all among concerns raised by Ypsilanti Township residents during the Jan. 14 meeting. They also sought clarification on what type of power lines might be installed, the danger of the facility’s proximity to the Ford Lake dam and the role of utility companies in politics.

Township officials, joined by Michigan Reps. Jim DeSana (R-Carleton) and Jimmie Wilson Jr. (D-Ypsilanti), struggled to provide answers. Until the site location is finalized, some information just isn’t available, leaders said.

Some areas, like impact to health, need more research, said DeSana.

“We just don’t know enough. We don’t have enough of these,” he said. “We haven’t had them long enough to know what are the health effects.”

Both representatives encouraged residents to reach out to the university’s Board of Regents and other legislators.

Township officials have also been boxed out of conversations with university and utility leaders, according to Stumbo. When they have been at the same table, there has been a dearth of information, Stumbo said.

The University of Michigan and the developers have dubbed the facility a “high-performance computing facility” that focuses on AI, but opponents commonly refer to it as a data center.

The estimated $1.2 billion project will house facilities for both the University of Michigan and Los Alamos facility. According to the university, it is to be built for scientific research and innovation and supports “projects that benefit the public, from medicine and climate science to energy and national security.”

The university had previously considered the American Center for Mobility location, but project leaders decided to move forward with other sites, according to prior reporting. They are now reconsidering the former General Motors location at the township’s request.

The University of Michigan announced Wednesday morning that it plans to host its own informational meeting on Jan. 29 at the Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest, 1275 S. Huron St.

“We are committed to engaging openly with the community, sharing accurate information as it becomes available, and listening carefully to local perspectives as we move through our evaluation process,” Steve Ceccio, an engineering professor who has been involved in the project since its inception, said in a statement.

Despite lingering questions, residents seemed to find the township’s meeting helpful.

“I think it’s good to just have all the information in one place,” said Erika Tebbens, a 45-year-old township resident. While she already has been speaking out against the center and knew most of the information presented, she thinks it was helpful for others.

Many residents are confused by the “convoluted process,” in addition to conflating the Ypsilanti Township fight with similar pushback to data centers in nearby municipalities, she said.

The meeting also sparked an impromptu brainstorming session, with some residents spontaneously researching potential endangered species that may be on the Textile Road site.

Although informational, the meeting showed residents are beginning to coalesce around local pushback on Los Alamos and the University of Michigan, Stumbo said. The best result would be the pair choosing the American Center for Mobility location for the data center, she said.

“The amazing result would be if they would just leave,” she added, prompting clapping and cheers from attendees.

The township hopes to hold another informational meeting for its residents, likely after the university’s, Stumbo told MLive/The Ann Arbor News. It’s not yet clear when that second meeting might be.

“It’s time to take action,” Stumbo said. “…Everyone agrees, this is wrong.”

Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page.