Clinton Township’s board of supervisors and apparently all the estimated 150 people in the audience at the May 13 township meeting are uniting in their hope to stop a proposed data storage center from being built.
During the nearly two-hour discussion, held in the garage to accommodate the crowd, comments were made about a draft subdivision and land development ordinance amendment regulating data centers. On April 30, the supervisors enacted a six-month moratorium on accepting applications for data centers to give time for review by the township and county planning commissions.
Supervisor Brian Non recommended hiring specialized legal counsel, as well as a conservation biologist as a consultant, to help protect the township from the potential impacts of a data center to the environment and population. Solicitor Jeffrey Treat gave his full support.
Katie Zefran of Browndale, who was in the audience, urged making a motion to use $30,000 from the township’s capital asset account to hire a specialized attorney. Acting on Treat’s advice, the supervisors agreed to schedule a special meeting to pursue engaging these experts. It was set for May 29 at 7 p.m.
Two audience members each pledged $1,000 to aid the expense of retaining them. Supervisor chairperson Mark Lopatofsky thanked the public for its desire to help, noting that the entire township budget is equivalent to the property value of many residents’ homes. He added that the township still must pay to care for the roads.
Clinton Township had an estimated population of 2,071 on July 1, 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“It’s going to be a long fight. It’s going to be a costly fight. The more support that we get to help out with a lawyer or whatever, is greatly appreciated. We are all in this together,” Lopatofsky said.
Establishing a way to take donations with proper auditing protocols was added to the special meeting’s agenda. It will also cover creating a volunteer advisory committee regarding the proposed land development. Township residents wishing to serve on the committee need to email a letter of intent and brief account of qualifications to the township by May 26, the township website states.
Treat said that regulating data centers was a major topic at the Wayne County Association of Township Officials’ fall convention. He said he has researched data center ordinances for Clinton and other local townships he represents. He said the townships modify draft regulations as they learn, stressing the regulations must not be vague.
Clinton Treasurer Lisa Lapaotofsky said she and the supervisors heard talks on this subject at a state conference. A solid emergency response plan is needed, she said, including where the fire company would get water if there was a major fire. The draft amendment also has nothing about decommissioning, she said.
Phil Waisanen, a resident, recommended having a portal to submit evidence of local impact, such as sound and light measurements. He stressed that data needs to be collected to establish a baseline of current environmental conditions to compare if the project proceeds.
“We need to start documenting now because you don’t know what you got till it’s gone,” Waisenen said.
Peg Nolan of Elk Lake advised the public to have their wells tested to show current conditions.
No one in the audience at this meeting, or the planning meeting the week prior, spoke in favor of the project.
Details of what is being planned by the developer Linde Corporation are yet to be presented. All that was known by township officials as of that evening is that the Pittston-based construction company wants to submit a land development plan for a data storage center and associated power plant on Linde’s 743-acre property in western Clinton Township near Browndale, somewhere south of Flat Rock Road.
Among the unknowns are the size of the project and what company will operate it.
At its May 7 meeting, the Clinton Township Planning Commission postponed hearing Linde’s presentation until the June 4 meeting. The solicitor advised this because the plan had not been submitted a full 10 days before the meeting as required. Approximately 200 people jammed the township garage on May 7, opposing the very notion of a data center.
Chairperson Lopatofsky recommended contacting their legislators for support. He said that data centers were “fast tracked” by the Trump administration in July 2025.
The Linde project would be the first data center in Wayne County.
