FAYETTE TWP., MI — Scott Manifold ended his public comment on Monday night with a prayer.

“I pray that you would guide our commission down the path of righteousness and integrity, that they may represent the township as a whole,” said Manifold, who lives on White Road in Hillsdale County’s Fayette Township.

“Lord, please protect our township from the influences both inside and outside our beautiful community that seek to alter our landscape for their financial gain.”

The crowd on a snowy night at Jonesville High School broke into applause as Manifold, who owns about 140 acres that could be surrounded by solar panels, left the podium.

Residents were gathered Jan. 19 for a Fayette Township Planning Commission meeting in what seemed to be near universal public opposition to a proposed solar farm, Heartwood Solar II, which would involve about 1,350 acres of parcels east of Jonesville.

The commission on Monday took no action after more than an hour of public comment.

Two members – farmers Dale Baker and Steve McElroy, the commission chairperson – recused themselves from participation because they have stakes in the project.

Baker said he has entered an agreement with Ranger Power to lease about 850 acres for the project. Another 150 of his acres are involved in the initial Heartwood Solar farm.

McElroy on Monday night declined to comment.

That left four commission members on the stage in the high school’s auditorium/cafeteria, a special site to accommodate a large audience.

Several commenters alleged the board lacked a quorum because two of its commissioners also serve on the township board and state law allows for only one board member. If there are two, one of them must be the township supervisor, the law states.

The commission conceded the point.

“I guess I was not aware of that, but all I know is that the people who have worked on the commission have all worked very hard and tried to do everything to the best of their ability,” Jane Munson, acting chairperson, said after the meeting concluded.

She said the township board would appoint someone to replace commissioners Nancy DuBois, the township treasurer, or Scott Playford, also a board member.

DuBois said, as she left the meeting, she would voluntarily leave the commission.

The issue, some noted, is the township supervisor appoints commission members, subject to a vote of the board, and the supervisor, Nate Baker, is Baker’s son. He too has said he will not vote on matters related to the solar project.

Commenters on Monday urged the commission to take its time, do its due diligence, obtain competent independent counsel and draft a renewable energy ordinance.

Munson paused public comment to assure residents the township too is thinking about an ordinance that ensures any applicant seeking to construct a large solar or wind project cannot bypass local government and secure approval at the state level, as is allowed by a new Michigan law.

“We have been working with a consultant for a couple years on improving and bringing our ordinances up to date,” she said.

Ranger Power, based in Chicago, has applied for a special use permit to put solar panels roughly between North Adams Road and U.S. 12 and west of Half Moon Lake Road.

Another utility-scale project already is underway on the other side of town, in the area of Jonesville and Bunn roads.

Brady Friss, Ranger Power development manager, has said Ranger wants to be a good neighbor and intends to locally permit the project. Representatives have spent years talking to residents.

The two projects represent what would be a combined investment of about $300 million and completed, they would generate millions in property taxes.

Ranger Power disputes many of critics’ points, saying, for one, there should be no concern about water, an often spoken worry. The only thing that’s actually penetrating the ground are steel beams, Friss said, and runoff is not a problem as the panels are solid.

Ranger Power has built multiple projects across the Midwest. “And we’ve gotten to see a lot of success stories about landowners participating in, being able to keep their farms in their families for future generations. And it’s a beautiful thing.”

Heartwood Solar II in the very early stages, he and others have noted.

Munson said the township zoning administrator is to review the permit application for completeness. “We won’t even look at it until it has been reviewed. So, we are a long ways away from any discussion on this.”

But many were eager to talk.

Some said they are worried about water quality and any impacts to the environment or wildlife. Others lament the unsightly takeover of the agricultural landscape. Ranger Power will “molest our bucolic county,” one commenter said.

“We would like our kids to stick around had have lots of children and have some places to go,” said Melissa Danford, who with her husband David is raising seven children on a Moore Road hobby farm.

“We want to preserve this way of life,” she said with a small child on her hip.

Some are skeptical or critical of solar power, which Ranger Power boasts is free of carbon pollution or emissions.

The power produced is rarely worth destroying acres of land unless it is low-quality land, contended Joe Lavelline, 56, who lives in Coldwater Township in Branch County and used to work for DTE as a “risk analyst” in a nuclear plant.

Others are worried about property values – Ranger Power says studies show no impact, but residents are skeptical.

One woman noted this solar project would be very near the high school. “All our children will be exposed,” said Nancy Ashton, who lives on Chadam Lane and only recently learned of the proposal.

The township, she said, has no website or substantial digital presence.

“We are clueless,” she said.

This is “no small thing,” said Doug Debrozsi, who lives in Hillsdale but is building in the area of the solar farm and noted the county contains headwaters for five major watersheds.

The affects could be widespread, he said.

“This is a massive revolution that has already started.”