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By Escanaba
Daily Press staff
ESCANABA -- A controversial plan to annex a portion of Escanaba Township to Cornell Township was a major topic of discussion at the Delta County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday, despite the fact the commission cannot take any action on the proposal until at least May a.
"We have not received the application, we haven't brought this before the board, this is the first board discussion of this tonight, and the property rights of all people are what I'm concerned about -- not just property rights of people who might want to move to Cornell Township," said Delta County Board Chair Dave Moyle.
The discussion of the proposed annexation primarily took place during the monthly "Commissioner Workshop" portion of the meeting, which allows the commissioners to discuss any item, regardless of whether it is on the agenda for the meeting, but does not allow the commissioners to vote on that issue during the workshop time.
The annexation came to the forefront following a full-page advertisement published in the Friday, April 14 edition of the Daily Press, showing a map of the proposed annexation area and a list of Escanaba Township and Cornell Township property owners, who are also township residents, that signed a petition to alter the township boundaries. The petition and notice was the first step in altering the township boundaries under the County Board of Commissioners Act, Act 156 of 1851, which allows the the county commission to vacate, divide, or alter township boundaries if the board votes with a minimum of 3/5 of all elected members to do so after receiving a map and the required signatures of 20% of freeholders in each affected township.
Despite the commission being unable to vote on the issue until at least May 16, the date the application to alter township boundaries is officially submitted to the board, the proposal has created a buzz in the community, prompted numerous calls to the commissioners, and sparked criticism of Commissioner Bob Barron.
Barron is one of 26 landowners who owns property in the proposed annexation area and that was previously contracted to lease land for a large-scale solar generation project that was later scrapped by the developer, primarily due to a series of actions taken by the township to restrict or eliminate solar development.
Around the time Orion began approaching landowners to lease their properties for solar development in 2017, the township approved a stand-alone ordinance regulating solar farms, but in 2019, then-Township Attorney Terry Burkhart advised the township that the ordinance should be an amendment to the zoning ordinance and not a stand-alone document. Rather than retooling the existing ordinance, the township went back to the drawing board, a process that included an ad hoc committee -- which drafted a more than 600-page report on solar energy production systems -- and a moratorium on solar development that was extended multiple times.
At the same time the new ordinance amendment was being drafted, Orion attempted to negotiate with the township. In 2019, Orion proposed scaling back the original project from 1,250 acres to 810 acres, increasing setbacks from 250 to 500 feet from primary residences on neighboring parcels, and opening up new pathways for wildlife.
In November, a 13-page amendment to the zoning ordinance was passed by the township board. The amendment uses an overlay district to restrict utility-scale solar development to less than 400 acres of land bordering Brampton Township, east of the Escanaba River. The vast majority of the land in the area where solar development could be allowed with a conditional use permit is encompassed in a single parcel owned by Lyme Great Lakes Timberlands, LLC.
Neither the original nor the revised solar farm proposals included land east of the Escanaba River, and the amendment effectively barred the landowners from using their land to produce solar power.
"This is 150% property rights. This is not about any particular thing. The solar aspect that's been thrown, banded about, what that did is showed a lot of land owners was show just how much property rights had been lost over the years," Barron said of the annexation proposal Tuesday.
While he did not collect signatures for the annexation applications, Barron was involved in the development of the annexation proposal. He described the law being used to move the annexation forward as a "cook book" in how it prescribed the process for annexation.
"Those steps have been followed as closely as can possibly be followed up until this point and will continue to be, but the Escanaba Township knew full-well what the potential was for solar," he said.
While Barron spoke strongly in favor of the annexation as a property rights issue and referenced other issues with the township's zoning and zoning enforcement -- including a dispute unrelated to solar on N.3 Lane, north of the West Gladstone Bridge and outside the annexation area, that landed in court late last year -- others on the commission either declined to state an opinion on the annexation or expressed they were against the proposal.
Commissioner Steve Viau, who initially suggested the discussion of the annexation, said he was in favor of solar but against the annexation.
"I can't help it what leadership does in other townships, Bob. You know, when they turned all this down, I think they might have turned a blind eye to some good stuff and didn't have 100% of the information or maybe the information has changed so much that we can convince them to readdress the issue. I just think annexation is the wrong way at this point."
Viau repeatedly stated he had heard from individuals who said they were misled or not informed when they signed the application. He also said he had been in contact with board members from both townships and believed the vast majority of people were against the annexation, but that he agreed with many of Barron's comments about personal property rights.
"It's quite restrictive, to live in Escanaba Township. Personally, myself, I'm not against what they put up in the last thee, four, five years, because that's probably in their master plan, that's probably what people in that community get involved in is that master plan and they try to follow, but there's a lot of things in Escanaba Township that, I wouldn't be able to live here, because I'd lose too many freedoms, like you're saying."
The Chandler Solar Project is referenced in the township's master plan, last updated in 2019 and available on the township's new website, escanabatownshipmi.gov. The document says the development "would present a significant opportunity for the Township and the County."
In the interest of educating the townships and county residents about solar, Viau has arranged for a presentation on solar farms, which will take place on Tuesday, during a special commission meeting at 5:15 p.m.
Commissioner John Malnar did not weigh in on solar, but said he was strongly against the annexation proposal and that Barron had a conflict of interest.
"We kind of went through this about a year ago, and I really believe there is a huge conflict of interest and a huge personal gain for a commissioner and I would strongly be against it," said Malnar, referencing a vote had by the last seated commission on whether or not Barron should be allowed to participate in the development and approval of the county solar ordinance, which is less restrictive than Escanaba Township's and would govern any solar development in Cornell Township. Barron was allowed to vote on that issue after he abstained and the rest of the commission was split 2-2, failing to secure the number of votes needed to bar him from the discussion.
Malnar also said that he, like Viau, had received a number of calls from people who claimed they were misled about the nature of the proposal. Barron said the language for the proposal was on the top of the document, along with a map of the proposed annexation area.
"You're hearing from a number of people on this and the reality is is that these people, when it was presented, they were not forced to sign it," said Barron in response to the two commissioner's comments. "They stopped at their homes, it was in their own backyard, it was not a pressurized situation. They were asked, it was explained, and they did sign it. OK, in essence, when you sign something like this, you're basically voting for it, in all reality."
Barron said he was not involved in the signature collection, but that he trusted the individual who was the primary gatherer of signatures.
Neither Commissioner Bob Petersen nor Board Chair Dave Moyle made any definitive statements about how they would vote on the issue, both stating they were doing more research and had many questions about the proposal.
"It's been said in the paper that I've conspired and colluded, and I haven't made my mind up on this. The more questions I have, the more answers come in, the more questions I have," said Moyle.
Petersen said he was uncomfortable with the proposal coming before the commission.
"I'm not in Escanaba Township. I'm not their commissioner. I'm not comfortable with it coming to this board, but by law, with everything we've found so far, it rests squarely on our shoulders. So just know that, like I said, I'm studying it. Once we get the application, I'll study it even more, but I have started," he said.
Some of that research was shared with the public Thursday.
"I did find out that school district lines do not follow township lines. So those children will still continue to go to Gladstone School, and money that follows those children will still go to Gladstone School, also," Petersen.
Interim County Administrator Ashleigh Young said she had spoken to Delta-Schoolcraft ISD Administrator Doug Leisenring and had also been informed there would be no change to the tax dollars going to the school districts.
Young stated she had not yet calculated the tax implications for the townships themselves, but had developed a digital folder for the commissioners to reference that would be updated as she gathered information.
The impact of the annexation on township government was not raised by the board itself, but was raised as a concern by Escanaba Township resident Barbie Clairmont, who was not present at Tuesday's meeting but submitted a letter that was read by Young during public comment. Clairmont told the board "this annexation forcefully removes four of it's Escanaba Township board members into Cornell and taking those Escanaba board members off Escanaba Township will leave a total of five empty board positions and no clerk," however her comment does not reflect the actual changes to the township board.
Escanaba Township has a five member board. Three of the five elected board members -- Clerk Theresa Chenier and Trustees Al Gareau and Norm Fleury -- would be moved to Cornell Township if the annexation were approved by the board, leaving Supervisor Tom Rymkos and Treasurer Kim Knauf-Wycoff.
The Escanaba Township Planning Commission is a seven member board that currently has four seated members, including Clairmont, who was appointed to the board in February, and Chenier, who serves as a voting member and the board liaison. It is currently without a chair, following the unexpected death of Dean Van Loon on April 29.
If the annexation is approved, two planning commissioners will remain: DeJain Dean, who was appointed to the planning commission in November of 2022, and Nathan Neumier, who was appointed in April of 2022, leaving five open seats on the commission.