Chelsea Bossert/Daily Mining Gazette City Manager Eric Waara addressed concerns local residents and city council members had about data centers and what an approved moratorium would look like. 

HOUGHTON — The Houghton City Council met Wednesday and approved two items on a very brief agenda. One of the items passed was a one-year moratorium on data center development withing the City. More than half dozen residents made public comment regarding a resolution in support of a moratorium. It was approved unanimously.

City Manager Eric Waara said he looked at approved moratoriums from downstatecommunities when drafting the resolution’s language and stressed this would be a temporary solution until zoning ordinances are updated.

“This would provide the city time to look at our zoning ordinances,” Waara said. “If we don’t have something we could end up with something really detrimental.”

Councilor Craig Waddell said this moratorium is a step in the right direction for the growing movement against data centers in the county — and the U.P. at-large. “There is a discussion going on in the county,” Waddell said. “I do have concerns about concentrations of wealth, power and the ability to surveil people.”

Mayor Pro Tem Buck Foltz said he is grateful people came and spoke out in favor of a moratorium and that Houghton could be an example of responsible development in the U.P. “I would ask you all to be diligent and keep up,” Foltz said. “This has to be a movement bigger than just Houghton.”

Up North Advocacy Western U.P. Community Organizer Lexi Tater was a key supporter of the moratorium. She spoke in both public comment periods urging the city to take steps to curb data center development. “Data centers would be detrimental to this area,” she said. “This is not just a city issue.”

Two residents who represent the Northern Michigan Alliance for Responsible Development (NMARD) spoke during public comment. Michigan United Organizer and NMARD co-founder Audrey Gerard said a one-year moratorium is a good start, but further action needs to be taken. “A moratorium is a temporary solution for a long-term problem,” she said. “We have been leaders in Houghton and we will continue to be.”

Waara responded to public comment after the moratorium was approved and said this was not a concrete zoning ordinance, but a time frame from which the city can draft a responsible zoning ordinance which includes language surrounding data center development. “Hopefully we start something,” he said. “Anything longer than a year won’t light a fire under our bottoms.”

In other action, council approved adding expanding the community garden on the next meeting’s agenda, as well as the approval of live music from Evangel Church at Ray Kestner Waterfront in September.