East China Township data center moratorium: trustees took up a yearlong pause on data centers and battery plants Monday

EAST CHINA TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The East China Township Board of Trustees was scheduled Monday, Oct. 19, to take up the second reading of Ordinance 335, which would put a temporary moratorium on data centers and battery energy storage systems in the township, according to the board’s Oct. 19 agenda. Results had not been reported publicly as of Wednesday morning, Oct. 21.

The regular meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the township hall, 5111 River Road, after a 6 p.m. budget workshop. Public comment is limited to three minutes per person, the agenda says.

Trustees have already hit the brakes. On Oct. 5, the board voted 7-0 for Resolution 11-2026, which imposes a 12-month moratorium, effective immediately, on permits, licenses or approvals to build a battery storage system or data center, according to the official proceedings of that meeting, which were included in Monday’s meeting packet.

Ordinance 335, introduced on first reading that night by Trustee Reichle, would make the pause part of township law. The township would not accept or process applications for either kind of project for one year after the ordinance is adopted, or until new township rules take effect, whichever comes first. The board could extend it by resolution, and it would take effect once published after adoption.

The ordinance’s findings say the projects “may harm the public health, safety and general welfare of property owners and residents” and that the board is aware of “significant public health, safety, and welfare concerns being raised by the public.” A pause, the draft says, gives trustees time to study the issue with “consideration of citizen input and involvement, public debate, and full consideration of all issues and points of view.”

The same night, trustees unanimously adopted Resolution 12-2026, which bars township officers, employees and agents from signing nondisclosure or confidentiality agreements that touch their official duties. The resolution says such agreements create “unnecessary legal liabilities, public mistrust” and extra legal review. Any request to sign one must be declined, officials bound by one outside their township role must recuse themselves from related matters, and an agreement an elected or appointed official signed earlier is declared “void and unenforceable, to the fullest extent of the law.”

At least 27 people attended the Oct. 5 meeting, the proceedings show. During public comment, Frank Bock of River Road asked the board about a noise ordinance for data centers. He said he lives half a mile north of what the minutes call the Detroit Energy Center along M-29, that its noise is constant and that a data center would add noise around the clock.

East China is one of several St. Clair County communities moving on the issue. Siting Radar, a tracker that reads public meeting documents, lists data center moratoriums adopted or in force in Port Huron Charter Township and in Burtchville, Columbus, Greenwood and Wales townships, a battery storage moratorium in Clyde Township, and proposed data center moratoriums in Clay and Fort Gratiot Charter townships. Brockway Township’s planning commission has a hearing on a data center siting ordinance Oct. 27, the tracker says.

Also on Monday’s agenda were a first reading of Ordinance 333, a park commission grant application to the Community Foundation of St. Clair County and $479,848.89 in disbursements, including $141,182.09 in accounts payable.

Updated Oct. 21, 2026: The Oct. 19 meeting has taken place, so the headline and schedule details are now in the past tense. The outcome had not been published as of Wednesday morning; this story will be updated when it is.

Sources:
East China Charter Township Board of Trustees, Oct. 19, 2026, agenda and meeting packet (includes the Oct. 5, 2026, official proceedings, Ordinance 335 text, Resolution 11-2026 and Resolution 12-2026), https://www.eastchinatownship.org/Documents/Departments/BOT%20agendas%20&%20mins/10-19-2026z-AGENDA_PACKET_.pdf
East China Charter Township, board meeting agendas and minutes, accessed Oct. 18, 2026, https://www.eastchinatownship.org/nav/new_page/clerks_office/board_meeting_agendas_and_minutes.php
Siting Radar, “St. Clair County, Michigan: moratoria and siting rules,” accessed Oct. 18, 2026, https://sitingradar.com/states/mi/counties/st-clair-county
Photo: Carl Lender, “Datacenter Server Racks (22370909788).jpg,” Nov. 4, 2015, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Datacenter_Server_Racks_(22370909788).jpg

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