Lockport Township Planning Commission Chair Sherrie Nowicki discusses a proposed ordinance amendment allowing for battery energy storage systems (BESS) to be included with the township’s solar energy ordinance during a public hearing Thursday, Oct. 2.
By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
LOCKPORT TWP. — A proposed amendment that would allow for battery energy storage systems (BESS) to be included in a solar energy ordinance in Lockport Township cleared its first hurdle last week despite numerous objections by nearly everyone in attendance, including the decision-makers involved.
The Lockport Township Planning Commission recommended the amendment in a unanimous 7-0 vote at a public hearing Thursday, Oct. 2, a hearing that featured vastly more discussion about why the board and residents felt the amendment was a bad idea and needed to be advanced anyway than about the substance of the amendment itself.
According to the text of the amendment, a BESS is “one or more devices, assembled together, capable of and used to store excess energy generated from the Solar Energy System in order to supply electrical energy at a future time.” It also includes restrictions and regulations regarding fencing, heights, safety signage, surface water runoff, repairs, and decommissioning.
The begrudgingness of the board to advance the amendment had to do with Public Act 233 of 2023, which went into effect back in November 2024 and made significant changes to the permitting and siting process for large-scale renewable energy projects in the state. It allows developers of projects above certain thresholds (≥50 megawatts for solar, ≥100 megawatts for wind and ≥50 megawatts for energy storage with energy discharge of ≥200 megawatt hours) to seek a certificate from the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) that critics say bypasses local zoning rules unless a municipality has a “compatible renewable energy ordinance” that is “no more restrictive” than state standards.
In essence, Kuhlman claimed, the law, if such a compatible ordinance is not on the books, could take away jurisdiction from local entities with siting such projects and put it in the hands of the state.
“I don’t necessarily support solar energy, I don’t necessarily support battery energy storage systems, but this is stuff that’s being forced upon us,” Kuhlman said.
“If it’s over 50 megawatts, they can go straight to the state, they can totally bypass Lockport Township and they can totally bypass every single one of you sitting in this room today, and we’ll have absolutely no say in it whatsoever. So, do we want it? No, we don’t necessarily want it, but it’s being shoved down our throats.”
Currently, Kuhlman said, there are no applications for BESS in progress or inquired about through his office, however he said he did get a call that there has been at least one company doing surveying, but the extent of said company’s interest is unknown at this time.
Kuhlman, along with members of the Planning Commission, urged residents in attendance multiple times to contact State Rep. Steve Carra, State Sen. Jonathan Lindsey, and the Michigan Townships Association to urge the repeal of Public Act 233. A repeal of the state law, Kuhlman opined, is the “best solution” to the issue, and would allow the township to repeal both the proposed amendment and its solar energy ordinance as a whole.
Lockport Township currently has an overlay district for solar energy in its ordinance that tells developers where solar energy systems can go in the township. The district is bounded by South Fisher Lake Road to the north, North Airport Road to the south, M-60 to the east and Haines Road to the west, chosen in part due to its proximity to the township’s power substations, where such large-scale projects’ output would go into the grid. Planning Commission chair Sherrie Nowicki said in response to one of the public comments mentioning the overlay district that it was done to “be as careful and respectful to the land of Lockport Township as we can be.”
“We as a board are very conscious and respectful of the property owners of Lockport Township. We are very diligent in our decisions; we don’t take anything lightly and I cannot emphasize that enough,” Nowicki said later on in the meeting. “I busted my ass for this township, so when I say I don’t like this battery [energy storage system], I don’t like it either, I don’t have a choice. The state of Michigan and the legislature put us in this position.”
Public comment on the proposed amendment was overwhelmingly against the proposal, as well as against the township’s solar energy ordinance and the overlay district in general. In a show of hands among the nearly 50 residents packed in the Lockport Township Hall – a figure Nowicki said she has never seen at a Planning Commission meeting in her 21 years on the board – nearly everyone raised their hands when asked if they were for or against BESS and the solar ordinance.
Most of the comments expressed environmental concerns surrounding BESS, citing a couple of incidents around the country regarding lithium-ion battery fires and their effects, concerns about possible groundwater contamination in both the township and the City of Three Rivers, concerns about training firefighters to put out battery fires, and concerns about property values.
If the amendment is adopted, township officials noted, it wouldn’t necessarily prevent developers from going to the MPSC for specific projects over a certain amount of megawatts, and ultimately wouldn’t stop property owners from deciding themselves whether or not they want to lease their land for such a project, but it would allow for developers to come to the township first to at the very least attempt to play by the township’s rules and ordinances.
“If they come in, they do what we want them to. If they go to the state, the state lets them do whatever they want to do,” commissioner and Township Treasurer Mike Friesner said. “There’s no keeping them out if they want to come in; what we’re saying is, if they want to come in, you’re going to do it by our rules.”
The proposed amendment will now make its way to the St. Joseph County Planning Commission, who will make their own recommendation on it before sending it to the Lockport Township Board for final approval in a public hearing. That public hearing is estimated to take place in November, but a specific date has not been determined.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
