BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY
bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com
June 03, 2009 06:55 am TRAVERSE CITY -- A new state study on wind energy reinforces a point Manistee County Commissioner Allan O'Shea constantly promotes: Manistee County is a good spot for windmills. A state board identified most of Leelanau County and parts of Benzie and Manistee counties as the second best region in the state for wind farms. The western half of Charlevoix County and Banks Township in Antrim County also were included among four regions with the most potential to churn wind into energy. "Manistee County is in good shape, and we've already got some things in the works," O'Shea said. "This may help promote more." The report was created by the Wind Energy Resource Zone Board, and is the first step in a process for the Michigan Public Service Commission to create wind energy zones that will streamline the process to upgrade electrical transmission lines to handle wind energy. The report indicated it often can take longer to plan, site and construct transmission system upgrades than wind farms. The study cross-referenced areas with the highest wind energy potential and the availability of open land to establish the four regions. Two other such regions include parts of Allegan County southwest of Grand Rapids and parts of Huron, Sanilac, Tuscola, Bay and Saginaw counties. The four regions chosen didn't surprise anyone in the wind energy business, said Steven Smiley, a wind energy consultant from Suttons Bay. "It pretty much put a public stamp on what people in the wind industry already know," Smiley said. The key issue now for siting wind farms is zoning, Smiley said, something the current report doesn't directly address. "Hopefully, it will help local governments focus their efforts on the planning and zoning process for commercial wind energy," he said. "Some townships have no zoning at all to address commercial wind energy." Officials in Leelanau County's Centerville Township began work on an ordinance about two years ago, when a company approached them about creating a wind farm. The wind farm proposal caught the township off-guard and caused quite an outcry, said township Supervisor Leonard Kelenski. "We're probably one of the best places for it in the county, but there were more people against it than for it," Kelenski said. Tim Johnson, the chairman of the township planning commission, said the public's biggest objection is the look of windmills. Opponents also believe windmills belong in an industrial area, not in residential areas. Johnson said the township's proposed ordinance is "prohibitive" for windmill development because it is so involved and complicated. Johnson said he believes regional wind farms would garner more support if they supplied local communities, as opposed to the energy going to large, downstate utilities. O'Shea said most townships in Manistee County are supportive of using their wind resources and some discussion has arisen about using federal bonds to create small, municipally owned wind farms.
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