(at right) - Cadence DeVree, a Zeeland city resident who owns property in Zeeland Township, speaks out against the proposed Silver Maple solar project at the Dec. 9 township Planning Commission meeting. (at left) - Attorney David Eberle of the law firm Bloom Sluggett explains the township’s options for drafting a solar ordinance.
By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
Zeeland Township planners have asked a township attorney to draft a proposed ordinance that will not only address potential future solar projects, but also other renewable energy projects like wind and battery storage.
The township Planning Commission on Dec. 9 directed attorney David Eberle to work with township staff in creating what’s called a “workable incompatible ordinance” that is stricter than the current state law regulating renewable energy projects, but not so strict that a developer may bypass the township entirely and seek approval through the Michigan Public Service Commission.
The commission’s vote came at the end of a two-and-a-half hour meeting where about 200 people packed the lower level of the township hall’s meeting room, the vast majority opposed to a $300 million solar project that’s been proposed by RWE, a German-based company that has its U.S. headquarters in Texas. The proposed 200-megawatt Silver Maple solar farm has been proposed in the eastern half of Zeeland Township and the western half of Jamestown Township.
“We think that we can draft an ordinance that allows us to address many of the community’s concerns in a way that is practical, understanding the fact that at the end of the day it has to be sufficiently workable for (RWE) to not go to the state,” said Eberle, an attorney with the Grand Rapids-based firm Bloom Sluggett, who advises local municipalities on renewable energy ordinances.
Trustee Kerri Bosma, who is the Township Board’s representative on the Planning Commission, was expected to report on the commissioners’ position at Tuesday night’s board meeting to gather feedback from her fellow board members on whether they would support a workable incompatible ordinance.
The state Legislature in November 2023 passed laws that create a statewide clean energy standard and gives utilities the option to bypass local municipalities and apply directly to the MPSC for approval of large-scale solar projects. Since then, local communities have been developing their own ordinances in an effort to retain some form of local control over such projects.
“The state has taken away a lot of the policy options, the zoning power of the local municipality, and because of that, the township is in the position of trying to do the best job they can in light of the regulatory framework that does not give it many options,” Eberle said.
Opponents of the Silver Maple project spoke for about an hour during public comment prior to the commission going into closed session to review an opinion from Eberle on the township’s earlier efforts to craft a solar ordinance. Most spoke on how it would harm local agriculture and the township’s rural character.
“I am angry that the foreign corporations believe they can walk into small American towns and buy up our future like it’s a clearance sale, and I’m extremely disappointed that some landowners were willing to hand over generations of farmland to people who couldn’t find Zeeland on a map seven years ago,” said Cadence DeVree, a Zeeland city resident who owns property in the township.
“Let me be perfectly clear when I say this: we are not powerless, we are not voiceless, and we are not for sale.”
Township resident Jerry VanderLugt said the Silver Maple project violates the township’s master plan.
“Our master plan prioritizes farmland preservation and rural character,” VanderLugt said. “Large industrial solar directly contradicts those goals. Under the Michigan Planning Enabling Act, zoning decisions must align with the master plan … Industrial solar is incompatible with surrounding farms. RWE’s project brings noise, glare, drainage problems, heat island effects and reduced property values.”
Linda Walker, who is the homeowners association president of Ottawa Executive Estates, the residential development adjacent to Ottawa Executive Airport, questioned the wisdom of building a solar project in an area that has heavy cloud cover.
“Grand Rapids, Michigan is known for its high number of cloudy hours and is ranked in the top 10 of cloudiest cities in America,” Walker said. “Annually, Grand Rapids averages about 301 cloudy days a year … does that make sense for a solar farm?”
Walker further went on to talk about how the solar project would hurt the local aviation community. Ottawa Executive Airport had more than 13,000 takeoffs and landings in 2021, the last year such statistics were available from the Federal Aviation Administration, and Walker said those numbers “have grown significantly since then.”
“From the plans I’ve seen, large solar arrays will be installed directly east and south of Ottawa Executive Airport, and can cause issues for small aircraft,” said Walker, who is a pilot, as well as her husband. “One of the significant hazards is when sunlight reflected from the panels can temporarily blind or disorient pilots during their critical takeoff and landing phases.”
Monty Wagner, who has worked in the power industry for 37 years, questioned the amount of land needed for the solar project and drew a comparison to Consumers Energy’s natural-gas fired plant on Fairview Street.
“Two hundred megawatts? That Zeeland (Consumers) power plant produces five times that (amount) and in a lot smaller footprint,” Wagner said. “That makes no sense. Why are you putting this kind of money into something that really isn’t going to do anything? It’s a lot of risk to take for nothing.”
Resident Connie Merrill called for independent third-party studies addressing concerns such as impacts on the environment.
“Without independent review, the township cannot verify wetland protection, tile-mapping accuracy, flooding events, chemical contamination and decommissioning costs,” Merrill said. “If a project is truly safe, RWE should welcome third-party verification. This is not about being anti-renewable. This is being pro-community and water quality. Zeeland Township deserves independent science, honest data and transparency – not pressure, (or) promises from a foreign corporation with a long record of environmental complaints globally.”
RWE first presented preliminary plans for the Silver Maple project to the township in August, but has not formally submitted an application to the township yet. Project manager Joe Brochu said that while he would prefer to work through the township, RWE is leaving open the door of pursuing a permit to build the project through MPSC.
“We’re examining all permitting paths,” Brochu said. “We’ll see what (the township comes) out with, how the ordinance shapes out. We’re always open to having conversations about that.”
RWE would like to break ground on the project in late 2026, and have Silver Maple in operation by late 2028, Brochu said.
The Planning Commission had worked for several months on developing a solar ordinance. Among the items commissioners had been looking to put in the ordinance include preventing construction of a solar facility on any parcel of land of less than 50 acres, which Brochu spoke out against at an earlier Planning Commission meeting.
Other sections of the ordinance would have required a solar facility to be screened and buffered by installed evergreen or native vegetation upon a berm of at least six feet, limited the maximum allowable height of all photovoltaic panels to 16 feet and set a standard for sound at no more than 55 decibels at the property line of an adjacent lot that is not part of a solar farm or at a road right-of-way.
Commissioner Randy Jarzembowski made the motion to have Eberle draft the workable incompatible ordinance.
“We’re somewhat backed into a corner, and our only way out is to put in an incompatible workable (ordinance),” Jarzembowski said. “Otherwise, we’d have less say as a community. The more say we can have and keep it, (the better).”
While the focus up until now has been on solar, the ordinance language that Eberle will work on with Township Manager Josh Eggleston and Zoning Administrator Lori Castello will also address wind and battery storage.
“We want to make sure get it right,” Planning Commission Chairwoman Karen Kreuze said. “We don’t want to do it half (way) and then be sorry after that.”
By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
Zeeland Township planners have asked a township attorney to draft a proposed ordinance that will not only address potential future solar projects, but also other renewable energy projects like wind and battery storage.
The township Planning Commission on Dec. 9 directed attorney David Eberle to work with township staff in creating what’s called a “workable incompatible ordinance” that is stricter than the current state law regulating renewable energy projects, but not so strict that a developer may bypass the township entirely and seek approval through the Michigan Public Service Commission.
The commission’s vote came at the end of a two-and-a-half hour meeting where about 200 people packed the lower level of the township hall’s meeting room, the vast majority opposed to a $300 million solar project that’s been proposed by RWE, a German-based company that has its U.S. headquarters in Texas. The proposed 200-megawatt Silver Maple solar farm has been proposed in the eastern half of Zeeland Township and the western half of Jamestown Township.
“We think that we can draft an ordinance that allows us to address many of the community’s concerns in a way that is practical, understanding the fact that at the end of the day it has to be sufficiently workable for (RWE) to not go to the state,” said Eberle, an attorney with the Grand Rapids-based firm Bloom Sluggett, who advises local municipalities on renewable energy ordinances.
Trustee Kerri Bosma, who is the Township Board’s representative on the Planning Commission, was expected to report on the commissioners’ position at Tuesday night’s board meeting to gather feedback from her fellow board members on whether they would support a workable incompatible ordinance.
The state Legislature in November 2023 passed laws that create a statewide clean energy standard and gives utilities the option to bypass local municipalities and apply directly to the MPSC for approval of large-scale solar projects. Since then, local communities have been developing their own ordinances in an effort to retain some form of local control over such projects.
“The state has taken away a lot of the policy options, the zoning power of the local municipality, and because of that, the township is in the position of trying to do the best job they can in light of the regulatory framework that does not give it many options,” Eberle said.
Opponents of the Silver Maple project spoke for about an hour during public comment prior to the commission going into closed session to review an opinion from Eberle on the township’s earlier efforts to craft a solar ordinance. Most spoke on how it would harm local agriculture and the township’s rural character.
“I am angry that the foreign corporations believe they can walk into small American towns and buy up our future like it’s a clearance sale, and I’m extremely disappointed that some landowners were willing to hand over generations of farmland to people who couldn’t find Zeeland on a map seven years ago,” said Cadence DeVree, a Zeeland city resident who owns property in the township.
“Let me be perfectly clear when I say this: we are not powerless, we are not voiceless, and we are not for sale.”
Township resident Jerry VanderLugt said the Silver Maple project violates the township’s master plan.
“Our master plan prioritizes farmland preservation and rural character,” VanderLugt said. “Large industrial solar directly contradicts those goals. Under the Michigan Planning Enabling Act, zoning decisions must align with the master plan … Industrial solar is incompatible with surrounding farms. RWE’s project brings noise, glare, drainage problems, heat island effects and reduced property values.”
Linda Walker, who is the homeowners association president of Ottawa Executive Estates, the residential development adjacent to Ottawa Executive Airport, questioned the wisdom of building a solar project in an area that has heavy cloud cover.
“Grand Rapids, Michigan is known for its high number of cloudy hours and is ranked in the top 10 of cloudiest cities in America,” Walker said. “Annually, Grand Rapids averages about 301 cloudy days a year … does that make sense for a solar farm?”
Walker further went on to talk about how the solar project would hurt the local aviation community. Ottawa Executive Airport had more than 13,000 takeoffs and landings in 2021, the last year such statistics were available from the Federal Aviation Administration, and Walker said those numbers “have grown significantly since then.”
“From the plans I’ve seen, large solar arrays will be installed directly east and south of Ottawa Executive Airport, and can cause issues for small aircraft,” said Walker, who is a pilot, as well as her husband. “One of the significant hazards is when sunlight reflected from the panels can temporarily blind or disorient pilots during their critical takeoff and landing phases.”
Monty Wagner, who has worked in the power industry for 37 years, questioned the amount of land needed for the solar project and drew a comparison to Consumers Energy’s natural-gas fired plant on Fairview Street.
“Two hundred megawatts? That Zeeland (Consumers) power plant produces five times that (amount) and in a lot smaller footprint,” Wagner said. “That makes no sense. Why are you putting this kind of money into something that really isn’t going to do anything? It’s a lot of risk to take for nothing.”
Resident Connie Merrill called for independent third-party studies addressing concerns such as impacts on the environment.
“Without independent review, the township cannot verify wetland protection, tile-mapping accuracy, flooding events, chemical contamination and decommissioning costs,” Merrill said. “If a project is truly safe, RWE should welcome third-party verification. This is not about being anti-renewable. This is being pro-community and water quality. Zeeland Township deserves independent science, honest data and transparency – not pressure, (or) promises from a foreign corporation with a long record of environmental complaints globally.”
RWE first presented preliminary plans for the Silver Maple project to the township in August, but has not formally submitted an application to the township yet. Project manager Joe Brochu said that while he would prefer to work through the township, RWE is leaving open the door of pursuing a permit to build the project through MPSC.
“We’re examining all permitting paths,” Brochu said. “We’ll see what (the township comes) out with, how the ordinance shapes out. We’re always open to having conversations about that.”
RWE would like to break ground on the project in late 2026, and have Silver Maple in operation by late 2028, Brochu said.
The Planning Commission had worked for several months on developing a solar ordinance. Among the items commissioners had been looking to put in the ordinance include preventing construction of a solar facility on any parcel of land of less than 50 acres, which Brochu spoke out against at an earlier Planning Commission meeting.
Other sections of the ordinance would have required a solar facility to be screened and buffered by installed evergreen or native vegetation upon a berm of at least six feet, limited the maximum allowable height of all photovoltaic panels to 16 feet and set a standard for sound at no more than 55 decibels at the property line of an adjacent lot that is not part of a solar farm or at a road right-of-way.
Commissioner Randy Jarzembowski made the motion to have Eberle draft the workable incompatible ordinance.
“We’re somewhat backed into a corner, and our only way out is to put in an incompatible workable (ordinance),” Jarzembowski said. “Otherwise, we’d have less say as a community. The more say we can have and keep it, (the better).”
While the focus up until now has been on solar, the ordinance language that Eberle will work on with Township Manager Josh Eggleston and Zoning Administrator Lori Castello will also address wind and battery storage.
“We want to make sure get it right,” Planning Commission Chairwoman Karen Kreuze said. “We don’t want to do it half (way) and then be sorry after that.”
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
https://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
