A fight over a massive Google data center planned for Van Buren Township has escalated into an attempt to oust multiple members of the township's elected leadership. Wayne County's election commission approved the language for recall petitions, opening the door for organizers to gather signatures against the officials they blame for pushing the project forward.
Wayne County's election commission approved petition language on a Tuesday, and the recall push is explicitly tied to resident anger over the data center, marking one of the most direct political consequences yet of the dispute. Coverage of the petition approval varies on exactly how many officials are being targeted. According to The Detroit News, Wayne County's election commission approved language for petitions to recall the township's supervisor, clerk, treasurer, and Trustees Bryon Kelley, Kevin Martin, Donald Boynton Jr. and William Frazier — while the same report separately describes the broader effort as aimed at nine elected officials, including the supervisor and the entire Board of Trustees.
The Belleville Independent named the specific targets as Supervisor Kevin McNamara, Clerk Leon Wright, Treasurer Sharry Budd, and trustees Donald Boynton, William Frazier, Bryon Kelley and Kevin Martin. The outlet reported that petition circulation was set to run from Sept. 9 through Nov. 8, though it's not established whether organizers gathered enough valid signatures to force a recall election.
An Appeal Looms Over the Petition Approval
The Detroit News also reported that an appeal of the recall-petition approval was planned, though it remains unclear whether that appeal was ultimately filed or what its outcome might be. That uncertainty adds another layer to a process already complicated by differing accounts of how many officials are actually facing recall.
The anger fueling the recall drive traces back to the Van Buren Township Planning Commission's approval of Google's proposed final site plan, which passed on a 5-1 vote, as Bridge Michigan reported. The project is planned across 150 acres of a larger 282-acre site, with the rest of the land left as open space, according to the same report, which also linked the recall effort directly to opposition against the project.
Water Use and Resident Concerns Driving Opposition
Much of the resistance centers on the sheer scale of resources the facility would require. The developer estimates the data center could use between 2 million and 3.6 million gallons of water per day, according to Planet Detroit. The outlet reported that more than 2,700 people had signed an online petition opposing the project, and that residents have raised concerns the data center could bring noise to the nearby Haggerty subdivision, harm water resources, and affect energy reliability and affordability.
Those worries over water, noise and the power grid appear to be the throughline connecting the planning commission's vote to the recall campaign now moving into signature circulation. With petition circulation having continued through Nov. 8 and an appeal reportedly in the works, the dispute over the data center's footprint in Van Buren Township shows no sign of settling down soon.
