Thor Equities Data Center, Augusta Township, Michigan

On August 4, 2026, Augusta Township, in Washtenaw County, Michigan, voted down the Thor Equities data center, 2,314 to 269, or 89.5 percent against. The vote overturned the rezoning of 522 acres of farmland near Milan from agricultural residential to general industrial, and left the land zoned as it was.

Thor Equities, a New York real estate firm, sought about 810 acres of farmland and wetland southeast of Ann Arbor for the project, with at least five large buildings for artificial intelligence and computing, potentially for a company such as Google or Microsoft. The township board rezoned 522 acres of that land from agricultural to industrial in July 2025; the rest was already zoned for industry. The project might have used a million gallons of water a day and would have had large diesel generators.

The township board had been entirely in favor. It approved the rezoning unanimously in July 2025, despite the objections already being made. Township clerk Kim Gonczy said of the project: "It would just be so huge for us." Officials played down the concerns, saying lighting would be directed at the ground and the noise ordinance would be complied with.

Travis Matts, who learned of the proposal in May 2025, set up Protect Augusta Charter Township and went door to door. In about two weeks in August 2025 the group collected 957 signatures, well above the 561 needed to force a referendum, from an estimated 1,200 to 1,400 residents contacted.

Matts said: "It's sad that we residents have to fight as hard as we do to keep these facilities out of our backyards, but if we don't then who will?" Another opponent, Deborah Fuqua-Frey, described the response to the campaign as harassment: "Calling the cops, that's harassment."

The residents were not finished after the vote. Petitions were submitted to recall all seven township trustees, under review for a possible place on the November ballot. Wendy Taylor Albers, who organized the petition, said the vote itself had been the point: "But I would have accepted anything that the residents of Augusta Township decided. This was all about giving the people of the township a voice in this rezoning decision. So, I'm ecstatic."