As Leelanau County grows, so does its need for electricity. And no matter its charming rural scenery, most everyone who lives there expect all the conveniences of a big city—including an uninterrupted supply of power.
Today that means putting up more power lines connected to a grid of electrical power plants that burn coal strip-mined from the mountains of West Virginia. As hard as some are trying, we can not immediately change that reality. That is why Wolverine Power Cooperative, which services Leelanau, wants to build a substation next to the windmill on M-72 in Elmwood Township.
A likely view of a proposed electrical substation at M-72 and Bugai Roads in Elmwood Township
The proposal is stirring up lots of controversy: Neighbors don’t like the idea of placing a big chunk of heavy industry—a 4.5-acre electrical substation filled with grey, 80-ft. towers and lots of new power lines—right on the main thoroughfare into a tourist community. Opponents also don’t like how the decision was made—quickly and quietly by an obliging township official who is a former Wolverine’s board member and current Cherryland Electric Cooperative board member, and owns the property where the substation would go.
This Tuesday night, Feb. 6, the Elmwood Township Zoning Board of Appeals will decide whether this substation is, in fact, an essential service that should be exempt from township zoning rules.
Of course, Wolverine will argue that its proposed substation is essential. But will the zoning board recognize that the scenic character of the M-72 is also essential and must be preserved in order to protect Leelanau’s economic future as a tourist destination? As a gateway into Leelanau County, M-72 shapes residents’ and visitors’ impression of the picturesque area they are entering. We cannot allow this crucial stretch of highway to be marred by such a completely unsightly industrial use. Clearly, Wolverine should look elsewhere for a better substation location.
But even if substation opponents carry the day, it’s hardly “game over.” It’s high time that the community stops fighting the same war over and over about development in high-pressure areas like Bugai Road and M-72. As long as that area’s residents keep assuming they can stop any development proposal solely through favorable interpretations of their zoning ordinance, they are ignoring reality: Eventually an unsightly, poorly planned development will win.
That’s because that intersection—which, in a fine tribute to local government structure run amok, straddles three townships and two counties—is highly desirable for commercial and residential development, thanks to its proximity to Traverse City and heavy commuter traffic from all of Leelanau Peninsula. Past proposals for the area include a minor league baseball stadium, a mini-mart shopping center, a church, and a subdivision. It is naive—and perhaps unfair to the current property owners—to assume that the intersection will remain agricultural just because the zoning ordinance says so.
If, as a community, we truly wish to maintain the farmland character of this gateway corridor, we simply must start talking to property owners and township officials about how best to maintain viable agriculture there—or whatever other type of development the community thinks appropriate. More broadly, to preserve productive farms anywhere in the township, not just along M-72, we must explore all sorts of options for farmers: purchasing their development rights, transferring them, and, yes, allowing more and taller wind energy systems—whose royalty payments to farmers provide them with additional, often badly needed income.
While locating wind turbines can also stir community debate about aesthetics, there is a fundamental difference between the sight of a large, aerodynamic, power-producing machine that simultaneously cuts pollution, fights global warming, and increases our energy independence, and a large factory yard that does nothing to meet any of those crucial challenges.
So, instead of fighting lots of little battles, one at a time, we must recognize that some development is appropriate in this location, and work with landowners to figure out what most people can accept.
Township officials need look no further than Acme to see what happens when the community does not clearly articulate an acceptable design for highly desirable property. We have to get beyond taking sides over new development and, instead, work together on a shared vision for how that development should occur.