January 19, 2024: Email from Paul Reschke [of Spartan Real Estate Group] to Lenox Township's Supervisor Anthony Reeder, thanking him for meeting him earlier in the week. He proposed redeveloping the Oakridge Golf Course located at 26 Mile Rd and I-94 in Lenox Township. His proposal included manufacturing, logistics, food hall, and hotel. Reschke strokes Reeder's ego by telling him that they agreed with Reeder's preference for hotel options. Tone of the correspondence is light and affirming, with Reschke closing with "Have a great weekend and Go Lions"
- February 15, 2024: Reschke again reaches out to Reeder, with the Township's Planner [at the time;] - Stephen Cassin - cc'd. Reschke mentions that one reason Michigan struggles to attract business is the failure to have sites ready in excess of 300 and 500 acres for development. Reschke proposed developing a 500+ acre site at 26 Mile and I-94. Hotels, food halls, a large travel center, EV charging, hydrogen fueling, EV production, and bonded warehouses are mentioned as potential developments on the site. Mention of an upcoming March 6th meeting is made.
- February 28, 2024: Reschke sends an e-mail to Lenox leadership (Supervisor Reeder, Deputy Supervisor Mark Grabow, and Township Planner Stephen Cassin) in preparation for the March 6 meeting. This e-mail included an "I-94 Corridor Development (1)" PDF file as well as another PDF with the phrase "Travel Center Pitch" in the title. Maps in the attachments break down the now-500-acre+ large region into an "initial parcel" and a "future parcel", and include professional drawings that lay out various proposed sub-regions within the proposed development area, to include a travel center, corporate headquarters, logistics and distribution, and manufacturing and warehousing. A map highlighting waterways and other on-site bodies of water is also included.
- April 28, 2025: Planning Commission Meeting. Light discussion on the Master Plan. One Commissioner acknowledges a lack of community engagement with the Master Plan. Further, it was acknowledged that comments were made on the survey, but not reflected in the current version of the plan. The Planner also acknowledged that the Planning Commission only had a partial version of the Master Plan at this point, with other sections to be added for their review later.
- May 19, 2025: Planning Commission Meeting. The first 5 chapters of the Master Plan were available to review. Commissioner [Linda] Rosseel detailed several concerns regarding the Master Plan Draft. Important to note- The I-94 Development District is not mentioned anywhere in these first 5 chapters.
- September 22, 2025: Planning Commission Meeting. Planning Commission finally has a full copy of the Master Plan, including the future land use of the I-94 Development District. This is also the first opportunity that the public had to review the voluminous master plan.
- January 15, 2026: The developers reach out to the Supervisor’s office asking for copies of the new proposed zoning map. Within 15 minutes, the draft land use map and zoning map are forwarded over.
- January 26, 2026: Planning Commission Meeting. After 5 cancelled Planning Commission Meetings since discussions of the Master Plan begun nearly a year prior (June, July, August, October and December), a roster change of one of the commissioners, acknowledgement of low resident input and feedback, contentious concern expressed by Planning Commissioner Robert Pannell of the potential for a data center to locate inside of the recently-added “I-94 Development District”, and with one commissioner abstaining from the vote, the Planning Commission offers a split vote to approve the new Master Plan.
- 🚩January 28, 2026: The Facebook page for the Office of the Lenox Township Supervisor published a post that states: “…unequivocally that no company has submitted any application, site plan, zoning request, or development plan for a data center, nor has any such project been discussed with or endorsed by the Township Board, Planning Commission, Township staff, or the Supervisor’s Office.” and “Any claim that a developer has “spoken with the Township” in a manner suggesting approval, support, advance knowledge, or involvement in a data center project is false.” and “At this time, the rumors circulating on social media regarding a data center in Lenox Township are categorically false.” Though perhaps technically not false due to the specificity and semantics used in this post's wording, many would argue that that the post is disingenuous at best, having seemingly implied that the supervisor's office had no prior knowledge or communications with developers regarding data centers.
- February 2, 2026: Board of Trustees meeting. With expectations that the Planning Commission will craft and recommend a High Resource Demand Facility (Data Center) Ordinance to the Board of Trustees within this timeframe, The Board of Trustees passes a 4-month moratorium on data centers, with an option to extend 4 more months if necessary. This, while the Planning Commission was simultaneously being tasked with creating and recommending an "I-94 Development District Ordinance" to create a future land use district which could accommodate data centers. During the meeting, Supervisor Reeder acknowledged that Data Centers may fall under the township's already-existing Light Industrial or Heavy Industrial zones. Note: 4 months is noticeably shorter than many other communities, who’ve opted for 12-month moratoriums. Also of note: Even after Planning later requested to extend the moratorium as they worked on the ordinances, The Board of Trustees did not extend this moratorium.
- February 5, 2026: FOIA records show Deputy Supervisor Grabow forwarding an email entitled “Data Center Ordinance Language” from Reschke [which itself was forwarded from Kalabat] to Supervisor Reeder. The body of Reschke’s language says simply “Mark, Just a couple comments - one on each document. See attached below.” Attached to the email are two PDF documents. The informal tone of the email appears to display comfort and confidence between the parties.
- February 23, 2026: Planning Commission Meeting. Discussion about the I-94 Development District and Data Centers was held. Per the meeting minutes, “Officials reported that rumors are circulating, the Township has no factual knowledge of property being transferred to develop a data center within the Assessing area. It was emphasized that repeating unverified rumors would be unethical...". During Public Comment, a resident mentioned receiving a conditional offer on their property. Many other residents spoke up regarding their concerns regarding data centers.
- March 23, 2026: Planning Commission Meeting. Drafts of the I-94 Development District and a 3-page Data Center Ordinance are reviewed by the Planning Commission.
- April 15, 2026: Town Hall Meeting. With unclear advanced notice about the format of the meeting, a "town hall" was hosted by the township with various tables around the room, each table represented a specific topic — electrical, lighting, noise, water, etc. Many residents complained that the setup was fragmented and disjointed, inconducive to residents being able to join together and fluidly share thoughts and understandings with each other on the issues. Some residents expressed that the information shared at the tables appeared to be biased, omitting or minimizing legitimate concerns and favoring potential developers' intent.
- April 27, 2026: Planning Commission Meeting. The Planning Commission was given a new High Resource Demand Facilities (“data centers”) draft ordinance. The Commission discussed both the I-94 Development District and the draft High Resource Demand Facilities ordinances. Realizing that there’s a lot of work to do and not a lot of time, a recommendation was made by the Planning Commission to the Board of Trustees, requesting an 8-month moratorium extension on top of the 4-month moratorium currently in place, which would bring the total length of the moratorium to 12-months.
- May 4, 2026: Board of Trustees Meeting. Just hours before the Lenox Township Board of Trustees hosts its regular May meeting - with the extension of the moratorium on the agenda - the township receives legal correspondence. Andary Law Group out of Mount Clemens - Representing their client “Lenox & Chesterfield Economic Development Alliance, LLC” - issues a Demand Letter to Supervisor Reeder which cites that their client has “expended substantial time, capital, and professional resources” towards efforts that would include a “proposed Data Center Campus [that] would be generally located on the I-94 Development District”. The letter warns against using “zoning laws or a moratorium to ban or block either temporarily or permanently, a lawful land development use.” Andary Law Group further warns that they “have been authorized to pursue legal action to not only seek injunctive relief, but also substantial economic damages from Lenox Township if the moratorium is extended.” Reeder forwards this message to the board, prior to their meeting. During the meeting, citing the mere Threat of litigation, the board goes into closed session for approximately one hour. Upon reconvening publicly, the board votes yes to Not to extending the moratorium (very clumsily, if not intentionally, worded). During public comment at the end of the meeting, multiple members of Lenox Township Planning Commission (attending as general public attendees) address the board critically, citing the immense pressure the board has now put onto the Planning Commission, as they left the township vulnerable with no moratorium in place while the rezoning ordinance and the data center ordinance were still under consideration by Planning.
- May 11, 2026: Andary Law Group issues another formal demand letter to Supervisor Reeder, citing “substantial time, capital, engineering resources, contractual commitments, professional expenditures, and development efforts in reliance of the Townships zoning framework and their reasonable expectation that Lenox Township would process and address Data Center land uses in a lawful, timely, transparent, and good faith manner." The letter goes on to state that “This correspondence shall serve as a formal demand that the Planning Commission proceed immediately and without further unnecessary delay in preparing, reviewing, scheduling, and advancing the appropriate Ordinance and regulatory framework addressing Data Center land uses within Lenox Township.” The letter further claims that Andary Law Group has “prepared a multi-count Complaint to be filed in the Macomb County Circuit Court that will seek injunctive relief and substantial economic damages. The Complaint that we have prepared will name Lenox Township, as well as certain individual Planning Commission and Board Members.”
- May 12, 2026: Planning Commission Special Meeting. Based on the moratorium extension being rejected, a special meeting is held to further review the ordinances and get a draft ready for Public Hearing. Motion is made and approved for the Public Hearing to be held on May 29, 2026.
- May 15, 2026: The deadline to have public notice published into the Macomb Daily passes, requiring the Clerk to reschedule the Public Hearing to June 2, 2026.
- May 18, 2026: Planning Commission Meeting. Further discussion of the I-94 Development District draft ordinance and the High Resource Demand Facilities (“data centers”) draft ordinance. Motions were made to rescind the Public Hearing scheduled for May 29 and to schedule a new Public Hearing for June 2, 2026. 🚩During the meeting, Commissioner Rodzik directly asks Supervisor Reeder and Deputy Supervisor Grabow if any non-disclosure agreements exist which pertain to the I-94 Development District. Both individuals kept their heads down, ignoring the question, and refusing to answer. The silence was deafening.
- May 27, 2026: Andary Law Group once again issued a demand letter, this time insisting that 9 points of contention found in a draft version of the township’s proposed ordinance be revised “to avoid litigation seeking not only injunctive relief, but significant economic damages against individual Board Members and Planning Commission Members”.
- June 1, 2026: Board of Trustees Meeting. The meeting opened to an absolutely packed room, with estimated 200+ people in the crowd, concerned that the township had no ordinance yet in place to regulate data centers yet the agenda did not include a renewal of the data center moratorium (which, when originally passed 4 months earlier, specifically allowed for an extension if needed). 🚩When the meeting was called to order and the pledge was taken, the Board moved to the approval of the agenda. Although this is the normal flow of the meeting to approve the agenda first before public comment, in this instance many of the residents were there thinking they had a chance to encourage the Board to add the moratorium extension onto the agenda. Instead, with no public comment prior, the Board unanimously approved the agenda as it was presented despite outbursts from the crowd pleading with them to add the extension. Public Comment lasted about 2 hours with residents begging and pleading for the Board to amend the agenda to add a moratorium extension onto the agenda. 🚩At the conclusion of Public Comment, the meeting proceeded as the agenda was presented – no moratorium extension was presented or discussed. At the second public comment towards the end of the meeting, residents expressed outrage and frustration while still pleading for the Board to extend the moratorium. 🚩At Call from the Board, instead of any of the board members giving any type of explanation on why the moratorium extension wasn’t on the agenda or granted, Trustee Marino motioned to adjourn the meeting after 3 hours and 15 minutes. No acknowledgement of dozens and dozens of worried residents' concerns and frustrations.
- June 2, 2026: Planning Commission Special Hearing. Further discussion of the I-94 Development District draft ordinance and the High Resource Demand Facilities (“data centers”) draft ordinance. 🚩Many of the commissioners expressed concerns about timing, feeling rushed, that they weren’t qualified, that they needed a lawyer specialized in data centers to review the ordinances, that the ordinances were not ready for publication, that a moratorium should’ve been extended by the Board, that they felt they had to approve recommending the ordinances to the board due to the lack of time left with no moratorium extension, fears of being sued or not making the right choice, etc. 🚩Many comments were made about not understanding where the I-94 development district came from, who created it, why it was created, when did it come into existence, etc. 🚩It was claimed that the Township did not properly send notice to affected residents who own parcels within the district about the hearing. 🚩Furthermore, residents who came to the Township the day of the Special Hearing were told the draft ordinances were not ready for review, despite the 15-day public notice saying the ordinances would be available for review at the township office. 🚩Prior to the motions being made, a 5 minute recess occurred for the Chair to make a phone call; the Commission returned to the table and retroactively motioned for the recess. 🚩Many questions and comments about wishing they had legal counsel present at the meeting to be able to answer questions or give advise on what their options were. The High Resource Demand Facilities (“data centers”) draft ordinance still had a section at the very end with “Legal Questions”. Two individual motions were made to table each of the draft ordinances for further review to get the suggested updates from the hearing incorporated.