Residents urge county board to monitor Panther Grove 2 ZBA hearings, raise concerns about mitigation and property impacts

Public commenters at the March 13 Livingston County Board meeting urged board members to attend upcoming Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) hearings on the Panther Grove 2 wind energy project and raised concerns about the project's scope, mitigation and effects on nonparticipating landowners.

Julie Russo told the board she appreciated members who had attended ZBA hearings and encouraged them to keep listening, saying the hearings began in January and were scheduled to continue into April with another session on March 18. "This is a huge project, and I hope you see your participation as important," Russo said.

Ronnie Cooper, who lives in Waldo Township, said he had spent time and money researching the project and expressed frustration that nonparticipating residents face an imbalance when compared with developers. "As a non participating citizen of Waldo Township, I'm at a disadvantage to a company that has over $80,000,000,000 on mitigation," Cooper said. He also said the project application has seen numerous addenda and updates and said he had concerns about sound and impacts to communication signals used for his employment.

Gary Luchins thanked the board for reviewing ZBA testimony and urged members not to assume the project is a foregone conclusion despite a "new state statute." "It is not a done deal, however," Luchins said, and asked the board to continue monitoring the ZBA proceedings before acting at the county-board level.

Commenters asked the board to consider whether local ordinances can give greater protections to nonparticipating citizens and to carefully weigh evidence presented during cross-examination at hearings. The remarks were part of public comment; no board action on the Panther Grove 2 project was recorded at the March 13 meeting.