By Ehren Wynder | ewynder@mlive.com
Publication Date: 2025-12-19 01:53:00
GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Another data center planning meeting in Kent County has been taken offline by a flood of residents.
The Gaines Township Planning Commission intended to host a public hearing on Thursday, Dec. 18, to discuss the rezoning of a property owned by Microsoft in the township, but the meeting was canceled due to overcapacity.
Gaines Township is a suburb located directly south of Grand Rapids.
Hundreds of people from Gaines Township and the surrounding area packed the township hall Thursday night, overwhelming its max capacity of 250 and forcing the planning commission to postpone the public hearing until it can find a bigger venue.
Microsoft requested to have the parcel at 7174 Patterson Ave. rezoned from large-scale planned unit development to light industrial, which will match the zoning of a light industrial parcel directly south of the property. The two parcels will be used together to support a data center, according to planning commission documents.
The parcel is part…
