A municipality in West Michigan has asked a circuit court judge to declare the state’s much-debated Public Act 233 unconstitutional.
Zeeland Township has sued energy company RWE, which has a pending application for a large-scale solar development project before the Michigan Public Service Commission. The project would be located in both Zeeland Township and Jamestown Township near the Ottawa Executive Airport.
PA 233 is a relatively new state statute that allows applicants behind certain utility-scale solar, wind and battery energy storage projects to seek approval directly from the Michigan Public Service Commission, unless all affected local governments have adopted ordinances that are no more restrictive than state standards.
A host of municipalities across the state have taken issue with the statute, which they feel bypasses local zoning rights.
The complaint was filed in Ottawa County’s 20th Circuit Court on July 7, according to an emailed statement from Zeeland Township Manager Joshua M. Eggleston.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare PA 233 unconstitutional under Article 7, Section 29 of the Michigan Constitution which states:
RWE filed an application with the MPSC for Silver Maple Solar on April 3, bypassing the deciding bodies of Zeeland Township and Jamestown Township. The project boasting 200 megawatts would stretch across 1,914 acres of agricultural-zoned land south of I-196.
“For generations, Michigan has recognized that local governments are best equipped to make decisions about matters that directly affect their communities,” wrote Township Supervisor Kerri Bosma.
“Public Act 233 departs from that constitutional tradition by transferring local decision-making authority to the state. Through this lawsuit, the township seeks to uphold the constitutional principle of local control.”
A project mired in legal action
The announcement is the latest in a series of complications for RWE.
According to an MPSC filing dated July 6, RWE has requested the suspension of all dates and agreed to waive a twelve-month decision deadline associated with the application “while it evaluates measures to address the impacts” of a decision from the Michigan Court of Appeals in May — which broadened the definition of an “Affected Local Unit.”
ALUs were previously defined only as units of local government that exercise zoning jurisdiction over such projects — in this case Zeeland Township and Jamestown Township. The updated interpretation includes Ottawa County.
RWE also filed a civil lawsuit against several members of a local farming family in June, alleging violations of a signed lease agreement and continued refusal to allow access to the property.
The Smallegans own a dairy farm that’s spanned three generations on land across both Zeeland Township and Jamestown Township. The family’s lease agreement with RWE, according to court records, affects 562.8 acres — or roughly 30% of the proposed Silver Maple Solar.
RWE argues, if the company doesn’t “soon” gain access to the property to conduct required surveys, the solar project will “almost certainly fail.”
— Cassidey Kavathas is the politics and court reporter at The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at ckavathas@hollandsentinel.com. Follow her on X @cassideykava.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: West Michigan community files lawsuit to strike down PA 233
Reporting by Cassidey Kavathas, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
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By Cassidey Kavathas, Holland Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
