September 3, 2010
Michigan

Planning board: More info on 2 proposed wind districts

By Kate Hessling, Tribune Staff Writer, Huron Daily Tribune, www.michigansthumb.com 2 September 2010

BAD AXE – Huron County planning commissioners took no action Wednesday on a request from RES Americas for two new wind overlay districts in Huron County.

“We don’t have a full application yet because I don’t have sufficient information to proceed,” said Huron County Building and Zoning Director Russ Lundberg during Wednesday’s county planning commission meeting.

In order have a wind overlay district – which is the fist step in a lengthy process to create a wind development – a public hearing has to be held and the requester has to show an adequate acreage of land is under lease, the district includes a solid block of agricultural-zoned land, and there are adequate wind resources and transmission capabilities present.

The information that was lacking in an application RES Americas submitted to the county Aug. 18 were affidavits from the Huron County Register of Deeds Office providing which parcels are under lease with RES Americas, Lundberg said.

He noted the company did submit maps with highlighted parcels in county-zoned townships that are under lease with RES Americas. Haowever, they are not the proof the county’s ordinance requires developers provide in order to move through the process of establishing a wind overlay district.

Other information needed, in addition to an affidavit verifying each parcel under lease in the proposed district area (including leases in both county-zoned townships and townships that have their own zoning), include the scope, scale and size of the two proposed projects, noted Planning Commissioner Clark Brock.

It was noted RES Americas already has been contacted by Lundberg to provide the additional information needed to move forward in this process. No additional details were given to the planning commission Wednesday because there were not any representatives from RES Americas present at the meeting to provide any other details than what was given in the application and maps highlighting which parcels RES Americas says are under lease in county-zoned townships.

So planning commissioners reviewed those maps and got an idea of what areas would be included in the proposed districts, based on what was highlighted on the maps and what has been conveyed by RES Americas to Lundberg.

The first district is for a project called, Deerfield Wind Farm, located in the northeast portion of the county, including sections of Dwight Township, the northwest corner of Bloomfield Township, a small section in northeast Lincoln Township, possibly a few parcels in Gore Township, in addition to a large section of Huron Township, which is independent of county zoning. Planning commissioners wanted an idea of which parcels were under lease in Huron Township so the board would have the “big picture” of what the proposed project would be.

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