IOSCO TWP., MI — A large crowd of residents opposed to DTE Energy’s proposed solar energy project on more than 1,800 acres — that’s nearly 3 square miles — erupted in applause after local township officials voted to reject rezoning agricultural land.

Many residents in Iosco Township, a farming community south of Fowlerville and near Webberville, have been pushing back against DTE’s requests to conditionally rezone land for two solar districts.

The township’s denial does not mean DTE will scrap the project. The utility could potentially take it to state regulators with the Michigan Public Service Commission.

The southern portion of the proposal consists of about 966 acres located south of Ringneck Way, east of Weller Road, west of Dutcher Road, and north of Schafer Road. Much of that area was already designated for a solar overlay district, but DTE was seeking to expand it.

The western portion of DTE’s proposal, which is outside a solar overlay district, consists of about 909 acres located south of Coon Lake Road, east of Gregory Road, mostly west of Bull Run Road, and north of Roberts Road.

Arrays of solar panels would be installed on fewer than 850 acres of the land.

The Iosco Township Board of Trustees voted 4-0 to deny rezoning both the south and west portions of DTE’s proposal Thursday, Dec. 18, with a crowd of nearly 200 people gathered at the Alverson Center for Performing Arts at Fowlerville High School. Township Treasurer Amanda Bonneville recused herself from voting due to a potential conflict of interest.

“That’s the way it should have been,” resident Jim Ratke, who has lived in the township for about 45 years, said of the township board’s decision to reject the project.

“That’s a no brainer, because you have all the people saying no, they don’t want it. So, when we all say no, it’s we the people,” Ratke said.

He said he thinks DTE will likely take the matter to the state and that people in the township would likely mobilize against it.

Township resident Bob Gray was concerned that an approval would have put the township at risk of more development in the future.

“If you open the door for one, then you set a precedent for the next time,” Gray said. “And DTE will not stop. They’re going to keep going.”

Resident Olivia Verfaillie and her husband are opposed to solar and wind industrial developments “because they are not worth the claimed productivity,” she said, also calling it “phony baloney, woke, Green New Deal.”

“They will burden our quality of life. Sprawling construction sites, constant noise, destruction of farmland, topsoil preservation, disposal of batteries, storm water problems, pollution, loss of pollinators — who are essential providers for human food — our tax dollars to subsidize these energy companies,” Verfaille said, listing her concerns.

She is also concerned about property values and negative impacts on wildlife and humans.

Township Supervisor Joe Parker said opposition from residents was a factor in his decision to vote against the rezoning.

“The people made it clear what they wanted,” Parker said. “Ultimately, they elected us. We need to listen and we did.”

The western portion was “a nonstarter” in the public’s mind, he said. “It was a case of, we worked with DTE trying to minimize impact. It just wasn’t enough.”

The southern portion was also “questionable,” he said.

“DTE and their opinions have pushed the board to go above and beyond, because they started with 300 acres and then expanded beyond that,” he said. “So, that was the whole premise of why it wasn’t acceptable.”

He said working with DTE was an attempt to excert local control and get a development that would be acceptable to both DTE and the public.

“It wasn’t successful, obviously,” he said. “DTE has every right now to follow the procedures to go through the MPSC, and they still need to come to the township first as part of that process.”

The utility could also wait a year to submit new rezoning requests, he explained.

Michael Rivet, DTE Energy’s director of renewable energy development, briefly addressed the township board before the vote.

For three years, DTE representatives have attended township meetings and held open houses and developed a conditional overlay zoning proposal “with input from members of the board and the public,” Rivet said.

“The result of all that effort is the rezoning request that is before you tonight, that includes solar panels, solar panel exclusion areas, and that avoids surrounding our participants and provides setbacks in some areas” as required by township zoning regulations, he said.

“While some members of the public are opposed to the project, the planning commission, after spending a lot of time studying the request, recommended both of the requests be approved,” he said.

He also said approval of both the south and west portions of the project would be “necessary for the project to move forward.”

Iosco Township officials opted to hold the board meeting at the Alverson Center for Performing Arts at Fowlerville High School after the township’s hall was packed at capacity Thursday, Oct. 16, where the board voted to table the matter.

At the Oct. 16 meeting, township officials unanimously voted to adopt what is called a compatible renewable energy ordinance (CREO) or “trigger” ordinance, which could allow the township to exert more local control over utility-scale renewable energy projects moving forward.

The trigger ordinance aligns township regulations with the state’s Public Act 233, which allows developers to bypass local government approval and go directly to the MPSC if local regulations are too restrictive, and Public Act 234, a related amendment to the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act.

Iosco Township is among 79 municipalities in Michigan that sued the MPSC in the state Court of Appeals last fall in an effort to stop the commission from overriding local control.

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