KALKASKA COUNTY– A proposal to build a data center complex in rural Kalkaska County drew a packed crowd Monday night as residents confronted the project’s developer with questions about environmental impacts, long-term benefits, and the future of local land.

The meeting was held at the Garfield Township Hall and marked the first in a series of public sessions hosted by Rocklocker, a company pushing to build a gigawatt-scale data center and private power plant on more than 1,400 acres of state land near Island Lake.

Project developer Matt Rine told attendees that community input is now central to the project’s next steps, especially after the Michigan Department of Natural Resources denied Rocklocker’s initial request to purchase the state-managed property earlier this year.

Rine says th

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