|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
March 5, 2006Electricity in the air: Wind farm proposedProject could include dozens of turbines
Tim Johnson has used a windmill and solar panels to power his home in Leelanau County since 1988. Johnson lives on Rosinski Road in Leelanau County, within the roughly 8,000 acres of land along County Road 645 that Connecticut-based Noble Environmental Power thinks might be suitable for a wind farm of 380-foot turbines. "I'm not sure at what point the scope gets too big for our community," said Johnson, who also chairs the township's planning commission. "I'm holding off on forming an opinion until I find out more." Representatives from Noble met privately Feb. 21 with local landowners to share their plans for a wind farm that could include between 50 and 60 windmills that could generate up to 1.5 megawatts of power each for regional utility companies. The windmill issue will be on the agenda Tuesday when the township's planning commission meets at 7 p.m. at the fire hall in Cedar. Noble representatives are not scheduled to attend, but Johnson said he hopes the meeting will share what information the township has about Noble's intentions. "I've already gotten calls from about a dozen residents asking about it," he said. Township Supervisor Leonard Kelenski, who attended last week's company meeting, said Noble has not submitted formal plans to the township. "I'm not for it or against it," Kelinski said. "But I think there's probably going to be some opposition." Julie Harker-Leigh, a Noble spokeswoman, said company representatives started meeting with landowners to sign easements to place windmills on their property. She said the number of turbines will depend on those easements, and the company will approach the township with formal plans once it has sufficient support. Landowners who sign an easement would get an initial payment based on the amount of property and receive 4 percent of the gross revenue from turbines placed on their land after they are erected. "It's all very preliminary at this point," Harker-Leigh said, noting that no construction would begin until 2008 or 2009. Centerville Township's zoning ordinance does not address wind-generated power facilities. Johnson said the township likely would need to draft and approve an ordinance amendment, and that could take a minimum of six months. He said whether to start working on it now or later would be up for discussion at Tuesday's meeting. Bryan Borchardt, who lives on Schomberg Road near Noble's wind power zone, said he planned to attend the meeting. He wondered how the turbines might change the county's landscape and whether they would require lights. "I moved out here to get away from all the city lights," he said. Noble is in the first phase of the Thumb Windpark in Huron County's Bingham Township that will include 32 turbines on 4,700 acres belonging to about 40 landowners. Those turbines would create about 48 megawatts of electricity each year to be sold to Consumers Energy.
|
|
