- Grass Lake Township Planning Commission is drafting a new ordinance on renewable energy.
- Neighbors voiced their concerns to the Commission Wednesday evening.
- Commission plans to use Waterloo Township ordinance as a model.
- The challenge is to write an ordinance that reflects neighbors' concerns, but doesn't trigger an appeal to state authorities to override local rules based on Public Act 233.
- Video shows solar farms, Grass Lake neighbors speaking at Planning Commission meeting, and Planning Commission Chair Tim Golding.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
As our state pursues green energy goals, prospects of industrial-scale solar arrays close to neighbors' homes continue to rile communities like Grass Lake, where neighbors voiced their concerns Wednesday night about big solar…and a new state law that could override their wishes.
Acres and acres of solar panels within view of their homes — not a prospect many Grass Lake neighbors relish.
The challenge before the Township Planning Commission?
"We want to write an ordinance that reflects the needs and wants of the community, that's workable, but not just a blank check for the solar companies to come in here and put solar farms wherever they want to put them," says Tim Golding, Chair of the Commission.
Passed last year, Michigan's Public Act 233 allows energy companies to appeal local rules on siting large-scale renewable energy equipment. If local rules are more restrictive than standards spelled out in the Act, the Michigan Public Services Commission could override them.
"If they can override our zoning laws, then what good is our ordinance going to be?" wonders neighbor Bruce Giller.
Wednesday, Grass Lake's Township Planning Commission held a meeting to discuss what rules about things like setbacks, noise, runoff, and other concerns to incorporate into a local ordinance on renewable energy — specifically, solar.
Giller, who spoke at the meeting, is worried the Township's work might be moot. His horse farm sits just across the road from a planned 600-acre solar array we told you about earlier this year.
"I just want to keep a focus on the fact that, you know, we've already, you guys have already recommended that you cannot put a solar farm on this property," said Giller.
Facing a Township moratorium on big solar projects and the Planning Commission's recommendation not to rezone the land for solar, the company — NextEra — tabled the project…but not for good, said the company's letter to the Township.
Some believe it's just biding its time, waiting for Public Act 233 to come into force this November.
But the Township Planning Commission is moving forward on a new ordinance it hopes wouldn't trigger an override while taking into account neighbors' concerns.
The plan, says Commission Chair Tim Golding, is to use Waterloo Township's ordinance as a model:
"They have a lot of components in their ordinance that we want to adopt into our own. It's been passed by the County, so it has precedents of being workable and being passable. So, we're going to take parts and pieces from that, and amend those and meld those into our own."
CHECK OUT OUR PREVIOUS STORIES ON SOLAR IN GRASS LAKE HERE AND HERE.
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