Groveland Township opts out of energy deal

Groveland Township officers have modified their minds a couple of proposed battery storage system.

At a particular assembly on September 3, township trustees voted 3-2 to enter right into a lease settlement with Dallas-based Vesper Vitality to construct a Battery Vitality Storage System (BESS) on township property.

The undertaking was proposed on a 37-acre parcel situated on Grange Corridor Street between Worden Street and Dixie Freeway.

Township Supervisor Kevin Scramlin and Trustees Keith Weiderhold and Jim Christopher supported the settlement. Treasurer Theresa Payments and Clerk Jenell Keller voted no.

The board modified its place at an Oct. 13 assembly, voting 4-0 to rescind the Sept. 3 assembly’s earlier vote to resume a 40-year actual property lease.

Scramlin and Weiderhold reversed their votes from their September determination and Christopher abstained as a result of a battle of curiosity within the enterprise relationship.

“The board is now in settlement on the choice to not renew the lease for Vesper,” Scramlin mentioned after the vote. “It’s best that the neighborhood strikes in the identical path.”

In keeping with Scramlin, the lease for the BESS will now go to personal property owned by Sanford LLC.

“We pushed again as a lot as we might to get the facilities that had been as useful to the municipality as we might, and I’m happy that we’ve reached that restrict,” Metropolis Lawyer Will Hosler mentioned of the proposed lease.

Among the many points mentioned by the board was the battle with Barry Bass and his firm Bedrock Categorical, which already has a contract to mine the property, web site monitoring, lease language and no particular tools listed within the settlement for use by Vesper on the property.

“This entire factor feels fallacious, it feels rushed and it feels pressured,” mentioned Treasurer Theresa Payments.

“We are able to simply go across the state on our different web site, there’s nothing stopping us from doing that, however we do not need to try this as a result of we have been right here for 2 years and we’re telling you we need to work with you,” mentioned Vesper consultant E. Jay Fike. “The native path is the best way we need to go. If this does not work out, we’ll go to the opposite (non-public) location and do our due diligence by the state.”

In October 2024, the municipality investigated whether or not the rules may very well be modified to permit for the sustainable vitality undertaking, which might have generated a monetary windfall.

Former Township Supervisor Robert DePalma mentioned it was in one of the best curiosity of the township to approve the positioning and undertake ordinance modifications in time to qualify for a possible $1.5 million in Renewable Prepared Group Award grants from the Michigan Division of Atmosphere, Nice Lakes, and Vitality (EGLE).

The aim was to get the undertaking beneath municipal management earlier than Public Act 233 got here into impact in November 2024. The laws stripped native authorities and zoning authorities of authority for renewable vitality tasks, together with BESS amenities, and positioned it beneath the jurisdiction of the Michigan Public Service Fee.

On the time, the undertaking was proposed on a 40-acre web site adjoining to I-75.

“The unique proposed location was within the far southwest nook of the township,” Scramlin mentioned throughout an Aug. 11 assembly. “This web site was chosen with out our enter and is near many houses. In distinction, the brand new web site, on land we personal, offers us a degree of management that we didn’t have. The positioning is in a much less residential space and if the undertaking goes forward the visible influence could be minimal.”

A number of residents spoke out throughout the September 3 assembly in regards to the undertaking’s influence on native wells and aquifers.

“The chance to public well being and security far outweighs the advantages to the small neighborhood supplied by state and Texas-based developer Vesper Vitality, estimated at a one-time $1.5 million grant from EGLE and roughly $250,000 per yr to the neighborhood, paid for by the developer,” Holly resident Melissa Ford mentioned in a press release after the assembly. “Our neighborhood is asking, ‘How a lot is our clear water and setting price?’”

“The aquifer and the general public questions of safety had been an important a part of it,” Scramblin mentioned of the board’s determination.

Greater than 70 Michigan townships have appealed PA 233, which provides state regulators the power to quote utility-scale photo voltaic, wind and battery storage amenities.

In keeping with the attraction, PA 233 is each “illegal and unreasonable,” expands the fee’s jurisdiction and violates state regulation. The municipalities’ name goals to revive native management over the placement choices for renewable vitality.

The case is pending earlier than the Michigan Court docket of Appeals.