May 15, 2019
Michigan

Casnovia Twp. lays out new conditions for wind farm

By Lynsey Mukomel | May 15, 2019 | www.woodtv.com

The company planning to build a wind farm in Muskegon County now has 30 days to review new conditions attached to the special land use permit approved last month.

The Casnovia Township Board laid out 32 conditions for American Electric Power during a meeting Monday night. The company must now review and accept the conditions or take the township to court over its original permit proposal.

The project’s current plan calls for 31 turbines within the township’s 36 square miles, but the board’s response limits them to 27.

Some of the biggest concerns residents have voiced since the proposal first went in front of the board last year are the impact on property values and potential safety hazards.

The board’s conditions address those concerns in a few ways.

“No wind turbine may be closer to an existing dwelling unit on a non-participating parcel than 1,300 feet, in order to protect non-participating dwellings from ice throw, blade throw or blade delamination and/or no wind turbine may be located closer than 1,000 feet to a property line in order to insure safety of non-participating property owners and residents from ice throw, blade throw or blade delamination,” the minutes on the board’s website read.

The township also wants to require a resolution system that will allow residents to lodge complaints with AEP. The condition would require the company to respond to each complaint within two business days. If the AEP fails to do so, the company must reduce operations of the turbine or equipment at the center of the complaint “immediately.”

AEP also would need to train the fire department and other mutual aid officials on how to respond to a potential emergency at a turbine.

You can read the full list of conditions online.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/05/15/casnovia-twp-lays-out-new-conditions-for-wind-farm/