Advertisement

Board members are: Chair Lou Colletta, Tim Lalley, Val McCallum, township clerk, Gerald Geppert and Rick Erlich.

Though the meeting's agenda included site plan reviews and discussion of ordinances for canvas structures, the bulk of the evening was spent discussing wind turbines, an item listed as old business. Present also for this meeting were Matthew J. Wagner, DTE supervisor-environmental, Ronald E. Chriss, DTE regional manager and Gary A. Bauer, realtor for the Brokerage Land Company.

Chair Colletta said that the extensive research done by members of the planning commission resulted in mostly negative marks for wind turbines. He invited audience members, specifically the DTE representatives, to provide some positives about wind farms. Colletta said that personally he thinks wind turbines are a good thing, where they are positioned is the question.

Colletta did ask DTE if they were going to do their own studies on wildlife impact when there were already studies completed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, a Federal agency.

"The 2003 Guidance also provides some latitude for Great Lakes' site-specific fact-driving siting," said Wagner. He said DTE has hired Biologists to study the county in and around the Rush Lake area where we have concerns regarding wildlife," he said.

Wagner noted that there is some sentiment that the three mile restriction from a Great Lakes for siting of a wind turbine is a "rigid guideline."

Burt Fischer, of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, asked DTE to the research according to Wagner who said that purely agricultural land may or may not be a flyway for migratory birds. He added that counts need to be taken when the birds (and bats) are migrating.

Wagner noted that Fischer is willing to visit Lake Township to review the actual sites' potential impact on wildlife.

Continued discussion on the subject revealed these points:

*DTE uses the rule of thumb: 100 acres/turbine. They plan 43 as a maximum capacity for turbines in Lake Township where they currently have 4,320 acres signed (of the 25,000 acres across Huron County).

*DTE does not advertise wind turbines as a means of reducing country's dependency on foreign oil.

*Harvest Wind Turbine's produce 1.65 MW of power/turbine. This is approximately the same capacity DTE plans for its wind farms in the county. DTE's Harbor Beach plant produces approximately 100 MW. Wind farms give DTE another alternative less costly (to the company) method of generating power. When the wind turbines are in operation, it can supplement or possibly switch some production from its coal-fire plant (Harbor Beach) to turbines' energy source.

*If the Renewable Energy Requirement is enforced than 10-15 percent of DTE's product must, by 2015, come from renewable energy. Wind Farms are one of these alternative sources. "Wind energy is very cost efficient," said Wagner.

*There are tax credits and other subsidy forms for wind energy developments; there are none presently for other, more capital intensive sources, such as methane digesters.

*According to DTE, much of the negative press wind farms receive is due to earlier, shorter, faster-turning turbines, not the newer, taller versions which rotate at a slower speed. "These things are not happening in modern wind farms," said Wagner.

*Tax Advantage (revenue) to Lake Township of a wind farm would be dependent upon the actual value placed on each wind turbine, how the turbine structures are classified, and whether or not DTE receives a tax abatement, which generally waives 50 percent of the tax due on the depreciated value of personal property over a 12-year period. Lake Township's mill rate equals 43 mills (every $1 million in taxable SEV brings in $4,400 in taxes).

Chairman Colletta reminded audience members that the Planning Commission can only recommend ordinance language to the Township Board of Trustees. "We're not lawmakers," he said.

The next Lake Township Planning Commission meeting is set for Nov. 28, 7 p.m.