February 25, 2013
Michigan

Wind farm ordinance on the ballot

By Andy Barrand | Feb. 25, 2013 | www.hillsdale.net

READING – Registered voters in Reading Township will have the opportunity to vote on the township’s wind farm ordinance Tuesday during a special election.

The election will be from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Reading Township Hall, 5355 South Edon Road.

The changes to the wind project ordinance were brought to a special election after township residents filed a petition to have the changes put up for a vote with a referendum.

Alan Jon Burrell, Reading Township supervisor said the special election will give everyone in Reading Township to weigh in on the wind farm ordinance.

The new ordinance would change the way sound from the turbines were measured. It also changes the way the decibel level is measured. It would also remove language prohibiting the operation of Wind Farm Energy Facility when an audible tone is present and results in a complaint.

“We recognized when we made these changes there was going to be a possibility it would go to a referendum vote,” Burrell said.

Burrell said he abstained from being involved with the process at the time because he held a lease to have a windmill put on his property. Since then Duke Energy has terminated the project and all of the leases have been canceled.

Greg Green, chairman of the Reading Township Planning Commission said recent mailings about the ordinance was false.

The motion to approve the changes to the ordinance failed with the board of trustees.

Anyone with questions can contact the Reading Township office at 517-283-3286.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/02/25/wind-farm-ordinance-on-the-ballot/