Nuisance Map: Community Evidence Documentation

Nuisance Map is a mobile-first web application designed for Michigan residents to log and track evidence related to nuisance cases involving data centers, solar parks, battery storage facilities, wind farms, and related construction. The tool helps balance the asymmetric relationship between hyperscale infrastructure developers and the communities that host these facilities, giving residents a structured way to build legally meaningful records of impacts on their homes and neighborhoods.

Visit Nuisance Map: Access the application to document and track nuisance evidence in your community.

Legal Foundation

The application is grounded in comprehensive legal research into Michigan nuisance law, aligned with evidentiary standards from cases like Leonowicz v. Zaitona (2024). It tracks both public and private nuisance categories, covering nuisance per se (violations of statute or ordinance) and nuisance in fact (unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of property). This legal framework ensures that evidence captured through the tool maps directly to what courts and regulatory bodies require.

Evidence Capture

The application captures the full range of evidence that Michigan courts require for nuisance claims:

• Photos, videos, and audio with preserved EXIF metadata
• GPS location and precise timestamps for each observation
• Duration tracking to document ongoing and repeated impacts
• SHA-256 hashing for file integrity verification
• Chain of custody documentation for evidentiary reliability

These capabilities align with judicial requirements for objective proof, dated observations, causation evidence, proximity evidence, and pattern evidence.

Nuisance Categories

The application tracks impacts across multiple categories relevant to infrastructure development:

• Noise — Construction activity, mechanical equipment, operational hum
• Light Pollution — Security lighting, facility illumination, glare
• Traffic — Construction vehicles, operational traffic, road damage
• Visual/Aesthetic — Facility appearance, landscape disruption, screening failures
• Environmental — Dust, runoff, habitat disruption, water impacts
• Vibration — Ground vibration from construction or operations
• Health — Sleep disruption, stress, respiratory concerns
• Property Value — Documented impacts on property assessments and marketability

These categories apply across facility types including data centers, solar parks, battery storage, wind farms, and active construction sites.

Open Source

Nuisance Map is built with modern open-source technologies. The application is freely available and designed for community use, ensuring that access to evidence documentation tools is not limited by resources or technical expertise.

Related Resources

• Moratorium Nation — Research on infrastructure development moratoria
• Saline Township FOIA — Public records related to data center development
• Blog Post: Building Tools for Community Engagement