Resident tells board data centers are "disruptive infrastructure," urges strict standards and decommissioning plans

Rob Carlson, a resident speaking during the public-comment period at the June 3 meeting, urged the board to prepare for data-center proposals by adopting objective standards and by requiring plans for decommissioning or adaptive reuse.

Carlson said data centers are "increasingly essential infrastructure" but also "disruptive infrastructure" that create special demands for power, cooling, backup generation and emergency services. "They're not like normal office buildings...they're empty," Carlson said, describing limited long-term local employment and the risk that a purpose-built data center could become a stranded asset if market demand falls.

He recommended that the township consider setback and screening requirements, noise standards for generators, testing of emergency-response plans, verification of power capacity and water-management plans, and contractual decommissioning or adaptive-reuse provisions. He offered his time and experience to the planning commission and was encouraged to attend future planning-commission meetings.

Board members welcomed the input and invited Carlson to bring his experience to planning-commission discussions; no board action on policy was taken at the June 3 meeting.