Kalamazoo commissioners unanimously approved a one-year pause on new data center, battery storage and cryptocurrency mining applications while the city writes new zoning rules.
The Kalamazoo City Commission voted 7-0 on August 17 to adopt a one-year moratorium halting new applications for data centers, battery energy storage systems, cryptocurrency mining centers and AI data centers, giving the city time to draft zoning regulations for facility types not currently addressed in city code.
City Attorney Aaron Leal told commissioners the city has seen a recent increase in proposed data centers and battery storage facilities in nearby Kalamazoo County communities and across Southwest and West Michigan. He cited potential impacts including noise from cooling systems and backup generators, high water usage for cooling, air and water pollution, fire risk from lithium-ion batteries, and strain on utility infrastructure. The moratorium runs through August 16, 2027, and can end earlier if new ordinances are adopted first, or be extended if more time is needed.
Harbor Farms exemption denied
Much of the debate centered on Harbor Farms, a cannabis grow facility that received a zoning verification letter from the city on March 16, 2026, stating a data center would be a permitted use on its site under current zoning. Commissioner Jeanne Hess asked whether the moratorium could still apply to the property. Leal said yes: Harbor Farms holds only a zoning verification letter, not a building permit, and has not begun substantial construction, so the business has no vested rights protecting it from the new moratorium.
Vice Mayor Drew Duncan and Commissioner Jae Slaby both visited Harbor Farms before the meeting. Duncan told commissioners the facility’s owner and manager described an initial buildout of 1 to 2.5 megawatts, with the potential to expand significantly if the site’s buyer wanted to, given the owner is under contract for three to four additional adjacent acres. Duncan misstated the units as gigawatts during his comments and later corrected the record. He also raised concerns that Harbor Farms has not turned a profit in its six years at the location. Slaby noted that Harbor Farms itself is not proposing a data center — the facility is for sale, and the city has no information on what a future buyer would do with the site.
Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the moratorium as written, without a carve-out for Harbor Farms. Slaby raised the possibility of broadening the moratorium’s categories to cover other emerging technologies, such as large-load computing facilities, hydrogen production or quantum computing, but the resolution passed covering only the four categories as originally proposed.
Any future zoning changes will go through the Planning Commission for a recommendation, followed by two City Commission readings, a process City Attorney Leal estimated would take a minimum of two months once city staff complete their research.
