August 8, 2012
Michigan

Seneca Township wind ordinance repealed

By John Mulcahy | Daily Telegram | www.lenconnect.com 7 August 2012

Seneca Township residents voted 135-130 Tuesday to repeal a township wind turbine ordinance approved unanimously by the township board of trustees in March.

The ordinance prescribed rules for wind turbines, such as how far the turbines would have to be set back from dwellings and what levels of sound would have been allowed.

A group of citizens who said the protections were not sufficient collected enough signatures to put the question on the ballot.

“I’m really pleased with the outcome of it,” said Lori Glisson, who spearheaded the effort to repeal the ordinance.

Glisson said the township board should rewrite the ordinance.

“I think now it’s time that we have our board go back and give us a safer ordinance,” Glisson said.

In an interview last week, Glisson said the setbacks for the turbines should be longer – four times the height of the tower rather than three – and should be measured from property lines of neighboring properties, not from dwellings.

Township supervisor John Gould, who voted in March to approve the ordinance, was noncommittal about whether the township should seek another wind ordinance immediately.

“I think we’ll see what the board and the planning commission wants to do next,” Gould said.

Gould said the township would continue to look at the issue of residential wind turbines.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/08/08/seneca-township-wind-ordinance-repealed/