Unbearable 24/7 Data Center Noise Sparks Lawsuit From Furious Residents

"It sounds like someone set up a vacuum, like in your living room, and the vacuum filter is clogged up, so it's a high-pitched whining," resident Lindy Valenzuela explained in an interview with WXYZ.TV, noting that it feels as if operators simply turned the machinery on and walked away. Fellow neighbor Billy Finn compared the living conditions to a movie scene where prisoners are tortured with sound inside a cell.

In response to growing public outcry, the city of Dowagiac instituted an industrial noise ordinance setting strict limits of 65 dB during the day and 55 dB at night. City inspectors subsequently issued fines against the facility for violating those thresholds, though Hyperscale Data continues to challenge both the citations and the municipal sound-measuring methodology. In the video above, one can see that the reporter's noise meter is hovering just above 50 dB, although we believe noise levels and pitch (i.e. whine) are two separate metrics that need to be accounted for here.

During a tense city council meeting, Hyperscale Data CEO William Horne attempted to reassure the community by highlighting planned sound mitigation efforts, including the purchase of adjacent acreage to serve as a natural acoustic buffer. Horne then made a sweeping proposal to dissatisfied neighbors: if mitigation efforts failed to make their homes enjoyable, the company would buy their properties outright.

That buyout offer did little to soothe anger in the room. For many families, leaving is neither simple nor acceptable. One plaintiff noted that their family has lived in the neighborhood for nearly a century, supported by generational roots that money cannot replace. Another neighbor, caring for a 17-month-old toddler with a second baby on the way, emphasized the sheer disruption of relocating. Residents repeatedly asked executive leadership why community complaints went unanswered for two years before lawsuits were filed.