"I want us to consider wind and soar and energy storage ordinances," Supervisor Bruce Borkovich said. "Public Act 233 established a law to allow the MPSC (Michigan Public Services Commission) to handle zoning for wind, solar and storage, which basically, in a nutshell, took away zoning authority from townships and cities; however, we still have the opportunity to adopt ordinances for those topics and custom tailor those to what is expected in our township."
Michigan's Public Act 233 of 2023 is a law that gives the MPSC the power to permit large-scale wind, solar and energy storage projects. The law went into effect Nov. 29. The law applies to projects with a capacity of 50 megawatts or more for solar and 100 megawatts or more for wind.
Local governments can adopt what the law refers to as "Compatible Renewable Energy Ordinances" to retain some permitting authority. If a local government doesn't have a compatible ordinance, the developer can apply directly to the MPSC.
"This is a chance for us to exert some local control," Borkovich said. "I think we will get good neighbors that say they don't want to ram it down the township's throat but would rather cooperate with the township. It will give us a chance to work with people if they want to comply with the local interests. There is a little incentive to work with local ordinances because the state process is going to be a lot slower. The consensus generally is that the local process would be a little easier to work with.
"Other townships are doing it," he continued. "I think it is a smart move, and I think we owe it to the citizens to come up with our own ordinances and regulations in the event we do get people who are interested in working with the township."
Trustee Jerry Everett said state legislators are working to get the zoning regulations back to the local level, and if they already have something in place, the township will be ready if that happens.
"All I am looking for tonight is the approval to move forward with looking into developing our own ordinances," Borkovich said. "This will involve a lot of work, so my interest tonight is creating a committee to move forward with exploring whether we want to do our own ordinances. I can tell you residents expect us to do something."
The committee will work with the planning and zoning commission to develop ordinances that will come back to the board for final approval.
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