Sides weigh in on proposed Riga wind ordinance

 RIGA — At Monday evening’s Riga Township board meeting, a variety of 
people spoke out on the issue of local wind energy development.
        Jon Kreucher, an attorney for the Royal Oak-based firm Howard and 
Howard, has worked with townships, landowners and industrial 
developers on land use and right-of-way issues. Kreucher said he was 
asked by wind developer Juwi to speak at the meeting. He said the 
zoning ordinance produced by the Riga planning commission was too 
restrictive.
        “I don’t want to talk about whether or not your draft ordinance is 
exclusionary,” said Kreucher. “Whether it’s exclusionary is a legal 
conclusion. ... To come to an adequate conclusion on that question 
could literally cost hundreds of thousands of dollars as a court 
works through an issue. You would be wise, if you haven’t already 
done so, to ask your counsel for a formal legal opinion on this issue.”
        Kreucher went on to say that the restrictions on wind development 
proposed by the planning commission were dramatically stricter than 
those in place in areas such as Huron County.
        “If I were your counsel, and a lawsuit did ensue, it would be 
awkward for me to explain why the draft ordinance here required four 
times the ... setback of any other ordinance,” said Kreucher.
        Some in the audience said they perceived such statements as a thinly 
veiled threat of litigation against the township.
        Attorney Josh Nolan, a member of the Interstate Informed Citizens 
Coalition, which opposes wind energy development in the Blissfield 
area, said there are currently 21 plaintiffs involved in a class 
action suit against a developer in Huron County.
        Kreucher said the “substantial majority” of Huron County residents 
nonetheless supports the wind energy installation.
        In May the township board submitted the planning commission’s draft 
zoning ordinance to the Lenawee County Board of Commissioners. The 
county commission offered recommendations, which Riga Township Clerk 
Karlene Goetz read aloud. The commission suggested several changes to 
the ordinance, namely that the board raise the maximum nighttime 
sound level at non-participating properties by 5 decibels and reduce 
the required setback for wind turbines to 1.1 to 1.5 times the height 
of the structure. The commission called the draft ordinance’s setback 
requirements “prohibitive.”
 For the rest of the Riga Township meeting story by James McClenathen, please see the June 15, 2011, edition of The Advance.