- Leslie Township is a Mid-Michigan hub for agriculture however solar ordinances have raised concern for farmers
- Under the old solar ordinance land owners could lease all of their land to solar power companies, the planning commission didn't believe that was fair and is working towards a compromise
- Watch to see how much of Leslie's Agricultural zone is available for solar panel use
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Welcome back. Over here in Leslie, new solar and wind zone proposals may get some people excited, but it could also create an uncertain future for neighborhood farmers
Dallas: I think people are satisfied is everybody happy? No.
On an issue with all kinds of opinions - there may never be *one right answer.
Dallas: There's some people that'd like to see unlimited solars and other people that'd like to see none. We had to try to come up with what we felt the community as a whole could live with you might say.
But Leslie Township Supervisor Dallas Henney believes the planning commission has come up with a solution the benefits the whole. community as a whole.. and gives Leslie the best of both worlds.
Dallas: And what they came up with primarily is that we would limit the number of solar panels in Leslie Township to 2.5% of our overall area in the township. That roughly calculates out to be about 560-570 acres
Right now - over half of Leslie Township is zoned for agriculture. And Henney believes this ordinance will help preserve the agricultural way of life in the township.
Dallas: The old ordinance would have allowed basically unlimited solar and we felt that was not in the best interest of the community overall. But, we do feel it's important to do our part so this is how we felt that we did our part and met both sides of the equation.
I also spoke with local farmers about their feelings towards the new ordinance, however none of them wished to go on the record.
In Leslie, I'm your neighborhood reporter Hannah McIlree, Fox 47 news.
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