OCTOBER 19th
The ordinance took affect today!

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 19th
Tonight was the public reading of the ordinance. Immediately after was a township meeting, in which they passed the ordinance! It will take affect October 19th, 2023. I am so grateful to the township and planning committee for all the hard work they have done to get this passed. 

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 6th

The Homer Index newspaper printed an article about our fight! I hope that I did a good enough job portraying our concerns about utility scale solar power plants!! 

THURSDAY AUGUST 24th

At the township board meeting last Monday, the planning committee did a pre-approval presentation of the solar ordinance. The township board went through it and each took turns addressing any questions or concerns they had. Residential setbacks were one point they all had an issue with, just as I predicted. 

The board agreed that it should be at least the 300ft setback on ALL sides at least. After them all saying that the 100ft was not enough, the PC finally agreed to set it at 300ft from all residential property lines! While I think it could still be greater than the 300ft, I am SO grateful they put their foot down and gave us at least that extra space.

The public reading of the 2023 solar ordinance update will be September 19th @ 7pm at the Litchfield Township Building. I will be sending out postcards when it gets closer so everyone is aware and can come if they want to. Public comment at this reading will be kept to a minimum, as it is just a public informational meeting and not necessarily for public comment.

If you have any questions/concerns, please send them to me or email them to savelitchfield@yahoo.com so I can compile a list for the board. I will also try and get a q&a list on here as soon as I have one available. 


WEDNESDAY AUGUST 9th
There was a special planning committee meeting last night. They went over what the ~tentative~ ordinance will be. While there are some strong points, setbacks are one area that have been a source of conflict. At the moment, the current property line setbacks are as follows:

1. Non-residential: 50ft from the exterior boundary line and 60ft from any road right of way
2. Residential: 100ft from the property line if on one side, all additional sides 300ft. 
3. 400ft from any occupied dwelling
4. 300ft from any outbuilding

I did let them know that from the people I have spoken with, the setbacks will continue to be an issue.

The next Planning Committee meeting will be August 14th @ 6pm followed by the Township Meeting at 7pm. Please plan to attend.

THURSDAY JULY 14th

While perusing the Hillsdale Register of Deeds website, I came across another agreement between a Litchfield Resident and a solar company. Now BOTH Heartwood Solar (Ranger Power, the one causing all the mess in Jonesville) and Capital Power have leases.

While I do not have a total acreage count at the moment, I do know Capital Power has 302 and there are currently two leaseholders with Ranger Power. I started totaling it up, but I have to search with the individual plot numbers and that will take me some time. What I can say is that it just confirms what I was already told concerning one of the leaseholders in the township, I was just finally able to get solid confirmation.

There is another special planning committee meeting on Monday, the 17th, @7pm where they will be continuing the discussion on the solar ordinance. I STRONGLY recommend you come! I can only get so much done because I am only one person and it is easy for them to shoot me down about things. Like that our residential property line setbacks HAS to be further back than 100ft...


MONDAY JUNE 12th

Tonight was the regular township board meeting. The topic of Solar came up in the agenda, and one of the planning committee members read off what they had discussed in the meeting prior. He reiterated that the things he discussed were NOT the final recommendations, just the ones that have been discussed so far. 

The township lawyer came and spoke regarding the topic as well. He did explain that, being that there is already a current ordinance in place we can't stop solar from coming in, NOR can we place a moratorium on permits until the ordinance is amended. He did say that the current ordinance can be changed however the boards see fit. Whether that be doing a solar overlay district, setting minimum acreage requirements, specific setbacks or greenbelt requirements, etc. The board asked a lot of questions, and the main takeaway I got was that while solar can't be stopped it CAN be heavily regulated should the board see fit to do so. 

The board was provided a copy of both a solar overlay district ordinance and an example of a moratorium on an ordinance FROM MICHIGAN, showing it IS possible to do regardless of what the lawyer said. 

I walked away from the meeting feeling confident in the direction things are going and I look forward to seeing how the planning committee meeting goes next TUESDAY at 7pm. 

FRIDAY JUNE 9th

Apparently, my updates aren't thorough enough because the planning committee has had to repeat themselves "three times", so I will make this one as in depth as I can. I took notes at the meeting so hopefully that will help.

In the first half of the meeting, one of the board members talked about how he had a conversation with the representative from Ranger Power. He described him as "candid" with his answers. The representative did admit that they are the ones behind the devastation on Bunn road, where hundreds of trees have been clear cut. He said that his reasoning had something to do with DNR restrictions regarding that type of thing because of the wildlife, and that they had a "handshake agreement" with the property owners. That they don't usually do things that way but wanted to get it done before the deadline. In addition, the representative said that he would gladly sit down with anyone who had questions regarding their projects and talk.

The township lawyer has been contacted and we are NOT able to do a moratorium, nor stop solar from coming in. They did not go into detail as to what the lawyer said regarding why we can't, but I plan to ask at the Township Board Meeting on Monday at 7. They did say however that the ordinance can be amended to however they want to.

After the break, they were gracious enough to let me be a guest at their table. I sat there while they talked about what their recommendations would -tentatively- be.

1. Setbacks from non-residential property lines (like the road) : 50ft
2. Setbacks from residential property lines : 100ft
3. Setbacks from dwellings : 300ft
4. Setting a MAX of 2.5 acres per SFA Track of vegetative clearing (trees, brush, etc).
5. Bonding with the township/state, updated every 5 years.
6. Must include wildlife ingress/egress
7. No construction on Sundays

They did discuss setbacks on class A roads, but have to find out what the specific requirements were. Setting a minimum/maximum acreage was also brought up, as well as setting specific requirements for a greenbelt/vegetative border, but they were tabled until the next meeting. Dust control was also something that was discussed but there wasn't a solid decision made.

The board would have to "think about" whether to set a minimum/maximum acreage. One citizen in attendance said that setting a maximum was no different than setting a maximum amount of permits for marijuana facilities. It wouldn't be telling people they can't put in solar, just that they would have to wait their turn until space came available.

They added another planning meeting on the 20th @ 7 pm to continue the conversation.


WEDNESDAY MAY 31ST

After several times of reaching out to both the township board AND the planning committee, we finally have a date for the special meeting specifically regarding solar. Monday, June 5th @ 7pm at the township hall is when the meeting will be. I am SO excited that we are finally getting things moving again and can hopefully get a moratorium on the books soon. 

While that is a piece of good news, I also have received word that Consumers Energy is going around to local landowners, trying to secure leases. Two different people have reached out to me about this. I have a copy of the contract that Consumers is giving people as well. Per one of the people, Consumers is trying to get 800 acres leased in order to make the project profitable. That is NOT including the 302 acres currently leased to Capital Power. When the rep was asked if the power was going to be put in by Ranger Power, she said she didn't know. 

We need to stand firm and do what we can to keep on the board. The planning committee meeting is Monday the 5th and the township board meeting is the 12, the following Monday. I hope to see you all there.

 

SUNDAY MAY 21ST

Monday the 15th was the planning committee meeting. There were quite a few people there this week.  The solar ordinance was the main topic of discussion. There were a lot of good points brought up regarding the inadequacy of the current ordinance as it is written. After the public discission, the board sat together and discussed the points that were brought up and what needed to be done. They decided they were going to recommend the township board reach out to the lawyer regarding a moratorium and what would need to be done to change the ordinance. 

One thing that was brought up by the public was that they wished there was a way to know what is going on sooner. We will be working with the board to make the minutes available and making sure that everyone knows when the meetings and things are. 

As of today, the 21st, there hasn't been a meeting scheduled outside of the next township meeting for the township board to vote on whether to contact the lawyer or not. 

WEDNESDAY MAY 10TH

On Monday, May 8th, the township meeting was held. Usually there are only a few people there, and at the meeting there were FORTY! I think the board understood that their community is incredibly concerned about the direction things are going.

The board was given a binder with a comparison sheet with our current ordinance and three other Michigan townships that showed its great shortcomings. A copy of each ordinance was also included so the board could read through and see exactly how they are worded. In addition, there were articles regarding the effects of utility scale solar power plants on the local environment. Another resident gave them a sheet of concerns regarding the lack of protection within the current ordinance as well. 

The Planning Committee meeting is Monday, May 15th at 6pm. I am hopeful that we will have a similar turnout and that the board will be receptive to hearing suggestions from the community.