center of a class-action lawsuit on behalf of neighbors<\/a>, who claim it is hurting property values and that the building’s constant droning is audible from their homes, hurting their quality of life, as well.<\/p>\nA News Channel 3 crew visited a neighborhood right next to the site following Friday’s announced expansion, and discovered the humming noise for ourselves.<\/p>\n
One neighbor, who declined to appear on camera out of fear of \u201cpoking a growing bear,” said he is living between a rock and a hard place, especially with the prospect of the data center growing even larger. <\/p>\n
His home used to be surrounded by neighbors, he said, before manufacturing moved in. However, it wasn’t until about four years ago when Hyperscale turned the facility into a data center, he said, before he had a problem.<\/p>\n
As the resident was offering to show our team a map of what the area looked like, a security guard drove up and parked, with eyes appearing to be locked in our direction.<\/p>\n
After some time, the following conversation took place, between the security guard, the homeowner, and myself:<\/p>\n
“Are you here for us?” I asked.<\/p>\n
“Oh yeah,” the security guard said. “I’m just making sure he’s helping you.”<\/p>\n
“Excuse me?” the homeowner asked.<\/p>\n
“I’m just making sure you’re here, sir,” the security guard said.<\/p>\n
“Oh, you’re making sure I’m here,” the homeowner responded.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t want anybody trespassing on your property, sir,” said the security guard.<\/p>\n
“Yeah, I’m sure of that,” the homeowner said.<\/p>\n
After several moments, with the security guard still parked, seemingly watching us closely, “Well, he’s here…,” I said.<\/p>\n
After no response, I said: “Are you worried about us trespassing on your property?”<\/p>\n
“I don’t know,” the security guard replied.<\/p>\n
“Do you experience that a lot? You guys seem pretty, like, locked up and ready for trespassers.” I asked.<\/p>\n
“No comment, ma’am,” the security guard said.<\/p>\n
After that exchange, the guard still stuck around for a few minutes, but eventually drove back into the data center’s gated parking lot.<\/p>\n
There were many notices of “no trespassing” and “24 hour security” posted along the property line, on poles and barbed wire fencing.<\/p>\n
The homeowner showed us the map, and shortly later, politely asked us to leave because of concerns related to possible retaliation, he said.<\/p>\n
“We gotta wrap this up,” the homeowner told us. “I’m sorry. I don’t want any problems.”<\/p>\n
His concerns echo those of many residents across West Michigan and nationally, as rapid expansion of artificial intelligence has driven unprecedented demand for computing infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The goal for expanding the Dowagiac data center, according to a company news release, is to shift focus from Bitcoin mining to AI computing.<\/p>\n
In March, the company announced it had acquired an additional 48.5 acres to expand its Dowagiac campus, doubling its current acreage.<\/p>\n
In April, Dowagiac Mayor Patrick M. Bakeman put his concerns in writing and read them publicly on social media, calling out the company for not communicating with local officials, but rather making “vague” announcements through press releases.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy doing this, you\u2019ve bred uncertainty and eroded our confidence that you will do the right thing in our community,\u201d Bakeman said.<\/p>\n
In the same open letter, Bakeman said the city had already taken steps to prepare for the company\u2019s plans and to protect residents, including changes to local rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spent time and money educating ourselves on the issues, consulting with experts in the data center field, enacting new legislation to protect our community, like adding specific enforceable decel levels to your noise level ordinance,\u201d Bakeman said.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit, filed May 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, is against Alliance Cloud Services, LLC, the listed owner of the Dowagiac facility, a subsidiary of Hyperscale Data, Inc.<\/p>\n
The complaint alleges residents have lost their ability to use and enjoy their property and that the noise is also causing damage to property values.<\/p>\n
In the complaint, one of the plaintiffs says she and her husband can no longer enjoy their yard since the facility started operating in 2022.<\/p>\n
Two nearby homeowners filed the lawsuit on behalf of residents living within one mile of the site.<\/p>\n
The complaint alleges that includes about 1,300 homes, similarly impacted by noise from the facility, according to Liddle Sheets, P.C., the Detroit-based class action firm handling the case.<\/p>\n
Most notably, the lawsuit alleges the company has not taken adequate steps to keep noise from permeating the data center.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefendant has failed to implement adequate soundproofing equipment at its Data Center that properly absorbs, captures, and\/or prevents the escape of noise, thereby resulting in the offsite emission of excessive noise beyond its property,\u201d the lawsuit reads.<\/p>\n
Residents\u2019 lawyers have requested a jury trial.<\/p>\n
The law firm handling the class action lawsuit, Liddle Sheets, P.C., is planning to hold an informational public meeting for anyone who wants to attend, on Tuesday, June 30 at the Dowagiac Public Library (211 Commercial St.) from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
Liddle Sheets, P.C. said the Dowagiac data center lawsuit is the first of its kind in the country and that since it was filed, the firm has filed several other cases against data centers in other states for alleged noise emissions, as well.<\/p>\n
News Channel 3 reached out to Hyperscale management, but had not yet heard back at the time this article was published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DOWAGIAC, Mich. \u2014 Frustration is melding into fear for a Dowagiac resident whose home sits next to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-729976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}