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Kalamazoo residents sharply divided over Flock cameras and call for data‑center moratorium; commission asks staff for options on remote public comment
Summary
After more than an hour of public comment, Kalamazoo City commissioners directed staff to study reinstating remote call‑in public comments and asked the city attorney to brief the panel on whether a moratorium on data centers is legally available. Speakers offered competing views on Flock cameras, privacy, grid and water impacts of data centers, and transparency of contracts.
Hundreds of residents filled the chamber and the public‑comment period with competing views on automated license‑plate readers (ALPRs, known locally as 'Flock' cameras) and proposals for a moratorium on AI/data centers.
Sarah Pruitt, a Kalamazoo resident, urged a permanent moratorium on AI data centers in the city, saying the facilities can drive up regional power costs and strain water and other infrastructure. “In the PJM grid region … power supply costs have jumped,” Pruitt said, arguing that nearby communities bear noise, environmental and economic harms. Several other speakers, including Matt Griffith and Diop Harris, said data centers could raise electricity rates and harm farmland and neighboring neighborhoods.
Other residents spoke in favor of the city’s camera program as a public‑safety tool. Maddie Jordan Woods said cameras have helped the West Side reduce nuisance parties and drug activity and asked the commission to preserve tools that help vulnerable neighbors feel safe. Kimberly Hooper and other neighbors credited a camera on Woodbury Street with reducing crime on their block.
Community organizers and advocates pressed two parallel requests: first, that the city study stronger, ordinance‑level safeguards for surveillance (placement criteria, independent audits, limits on data sharing and retention); second, that the commission explore a moratorium or temporary pause on new data‑center sitings while staff and planners study cumulative impacts. Charlei Davis of ISAAC, who urged equity‑focused analysis, asked when the current Flock contract is up for renewal; others alleged the city had already signed a contract extension without full commission review.
Vice Mayor Drew Duncan asked the commission to direct city staff to draft alternatives to current public‑comment rules that would allow remote participation and set parameters such as comment duration and whether callers may speak to general or agenda items. That motion — directing the city manager, city clerk and city attorney to return with options and the legal/operational considerations for each — passed by unanimous roll call.
On the question of a formal moratorium, the body did not adopt an ordinance; instead the commission asked City Attorney Liao to present a short informational briefing at an upcoming CAL session on what moratoria are, how others have used them, and what legal limits apply. Liao said moratoria are temporary pauses in accepting applications and typically include a finite duration and a study period.
Jeff Messer and others urged reopening Arcadia Creek Festival Place while renovations are delayed; Messer also alleged an undisclosed contract extension with Flock. Attorney Liao and city staff did not confirm that allegation in meeting remarks; Liao said settlement and contract issues would be handled according to existing procedures.
What’s next: staff will return with options for reinstating remote call‑in public comments and with legal and planning information about moratoria and potential zoning approaches for data centers. The commission did not take a final vote on a moratorium at Monday’s meeting.
