RAISIN TWP. — A choice on whether or not to approve a proposed photo voltaic vitality facility in southeast Raisin Township might be made in July.
Members of the Raisin Township Planning Commission heard from residents and representatives of the corporate proposing the Beecher Solar undertaking at a public listening to Tuesday. About 50 residents attended, with two folks talking in favor of the undertaking and two opposing it.
The subsequent step is for the town’s engineering consultants to overview the proposal to see the way it complies with the town’s industrial photo voltaic vitality ordinance, planning fee chairman Marcus McNamara mentioned. That overview have to be accomplished in time for the fee’s July 9 assembly.
NextEra Energy Resources LLC of Juno Beach, Florida, which is proposing the undertaking, has submitted an in depth software in regards to the undertaking that’s extra in-depth than was offered at Tuesday’s listening to, McNamara mentioned.
The undertaking consists of 827 acres of a number of farm parcels unfold between Academy Road to the south and Holloway Road to the north, and Kerr Highway to the east and the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks to the west, in keeping with the undertaking map. The photovoltaic panels will likely be positioned in two places and can cowl 433 acres, Stephen Eastridge, senior undertaking supervisor of NextEra Energy Resources LLC, mentioned in his presentation. The largest space of the panels is in a backwards L form with Kerr Highway to the east, Laberdee Road to the south, Chatfield Highway to the west and Holloway Road to the north. The western fringe of the northern a part of that space runs about half a mile south from the intersection of Holloway and Billmeyer Highway, then west to Chatfield. The land round Chatfield is generally hilly, however to the east it’s flat.
A smaller space of panels runs north-south in a slender strip between Academy Road and the railroad, about midway between Rogers Highway and Raisin Center Highway. A substation will likely be positioned there.
Some parcels between the 2 areas of the panels will likely be used for laying underground transmission strains.
Most of the land is leased, mentioned Eastridge, however a number of the property homeowners within the undertaking space favor to promote their land.
The panels, Eastridge mentioned, will likely be as tall as corn stalks and not more than 14 toes tall. Attach them to an agricultural-style fence that meets federal safety necessities. Barbed wire shall not be used. There can even be landscaping to create a visible buffer, and perennial crops will likely be planted across the panels to protect the standard of the soil. Panels shall be set again at the very least 200 toes from property strains.
The panels will likely be inbuilt a system that follows the solar, in order that they flip from east to west all through the day. They have a nonreflective coating on them and produce no emissions, smoke or different pollution, Eastridge mentioned. Sound modeling for the location signifies any noise from the gear won’t exceed 25 decibels when measured from the undertaking boundaries. According to the National Council on Aging, 25 decibels is much like a whisper or rustling leaves.
The web site will likely be decommissioned on the finish of its helpful life and the location will likely be returned to agricultural use.
If permitted, development would start in 2025 and the power would supply energy to {the electrical} grid in 2026, Eastridge mentioned. The undertaking will help about 150 development jobs. Any materials harm to public roads triggered throughout development will likely be repaired.
NextEra has been involved with the Lenawee County Road Commission and the Drain Commissioner’s Office in regards to the undertaking, Eastridge mentioned. Currently, they largely work within the drain commissioner’s workplace.
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Once operational, the power will generate about $15 million in native tax income, Eastridge mentioned.
One of the individuals who spoke in opposition to the undertaking was Kevin Burns, who lives on Holloway Road subsequent to the proposed undertaking. He mentioned he does not need to look out his home windows on the photo voltaic panels, due to what he is seen in different photo voltaic initiatives within the space with dying timber that ought to present a visible buffer.
Burns additionally requested about electromagnetic radiation, wind noise, fireplace hazards, what would occur if the panels have been broken by hail and if water and soil high quality could be monitored.
McNamara requested NextEra representatives to supply solutions to questions earlier than the July 9 assembly.
Burns additionally trigger lack of crop manufacturing.
“I believe we’ll get it again in 30 years, however that is a 30-year non-production interval,” he mentioned.
Louis Rebottaro, who lives close to a photo voltaic facility on Hendershot Highway, endorsed the undertaking. He mentioned the top consequence will likely be like all farming, the place they harvest vitality from the solar to supply a product that’s utilized by most individuals on this planet. He mentioned he lives about 100 toes from the Hendershot facility, and he hears extra noise from visitors on M-50, which is a few mile away, than he hears from the photo voltaic panels.
“Farmers have the proper to revenue from the funding they’ve,” he mentioned. “They can sleep at night time with out again ache, and so they haven’t got to fret about whether or not it should rain or not and so they nonetheless have an revenue.”
— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or observe him on X, previously Twitter: @lenaweepanian.