Wayne County overrides Evans veto of tax breaks for Van Buren data center

(FOX 2) - The Wayne County Commission overrode Executive Warren Evans' veto of tax breaks for a planned data center in Van Buren Township.

Commissioners overruled the Wayne County executive's rejection of tax incentives by a 13-0 vote. During the Thursday meeting, commissioners emphasized it was not an approval of the data center being built.

The data center project has been called Project Cannoli on east Haggerty Road and will be built for Google. The benefits tied to Google's data center were rejected by Evans on Sept. 25.

"I myself personally, voted against it a couple weeks ago," said commissioner Allen Wilson. "But after more information, I dug into it deeper. Union folks will get opportunities to go to work, make some money, I gotta say I'm having a change of heart."

Wilson said the veto put the body "in a precarious situation."

Two of the commissioners were absent from the meeting.

Van Buren Data Center

The backstory:

The township approved the 230-acre large data center by a 5-2 vote on Feb. 12. 

"Project Cannoli" will be built on the property north of I-94 between Haggerty Road and I-275.

During the meeting, the township supervisor talked about how this place has been zoned for a data center in the past, back before hyper data centers began. Van Buren Township Supervisor Kevin McNamara says the research has been done, and there is the needed infrastructure for the project.

"This will actually drive the price of water down in Van Buren," he said. "Because we’ve got a big user now that has very little infrastructure 20 feet off the line. They have to pay the municipal rate and when they pay the municipal rate, it’s going to actually drive down the cost of water for our customers in Van Buren Township.

"We have the lowest water rates probably in Southeast Michigan. We will have the lowest rates for 10 years because of this project," he said at the time.

Warren Evans responds

What they're saying:

"Governments have a system of checks and balances for a reason. I spelled out clearly my concerns with the tax abatements given to the Van Buren Township Data Center in my veto of the Commission’s approval of the plan negotiated with the Data Center project. I feel the same way after the veto override. My job is to do what I think is best for Wayne County and its residents. The Commission I assume did what they thought was best. Now, we as a County must come together and make it work."

Wayne County