February 3, 2018
Michigan

Kinderhook passes moratorium on turbines

By Don Reidd | The Daily Reporter | Feb 1, 2018 | www.thedailyreporter.com

KINDERHOOK TOWNSHIP – Kinderhook Township trustees voted in favor of a two-year moratorium on approving permits for wind turbines in the township on Monday at the request of Kinderhook Township Supervisor Wayne Barnes.

Barnes said the township has a policy in place to cover wind turbines, but he wants to see “one which will cover our township. I am not saying what we have is wrong.”

Barnes pointed to townships in the north part of the county where DTE has signed over 200 leases. He was one of numerous township officials who attended a meeting last week where former Riga Township planning official Kevon Martis talked about reasonable regulations for turbines.

“I am not saying we shouldn’t allow them, but this will give us time to make sure ours is right,” Barnes told his board.

So far, Kinderhook has not been an area targeted by DTE for leasing, however the township has seen a number of companies try to tie up large amounts of acreage for solar farms on 20-year leases.

There is an ordinance regulating solar installations.

Kinderhook is considered a good location because an interstate grid tie line connects Indiana near the toll road substation and substations at Pearl Road and old U.S. 27, and on Snow Prairie Road.

Zoning Administrator Ron Patch said that a man from Ohio has been looking at a number of locations south of Coldwater into Indiana for a site to build a winery – “a retail location where he could sell wine, as well as a place to grow the grapes,” Patch said.

“If he does come to Kinderhook, he would have to have a special use permit,” he explained.

Patch said that a man from Tecumseh had come to the township looking for 1 1/4 acres for a commercial retail site with all utilities.

“These are two people we have come to us in the last month,” Patch said, noting that they were likely shopping for land for someone else.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/02/03/kinderhook-passes-moratorium-on-turbines/