Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and city officials shared finalized designs for the city’s first three solar neighborhoods.

The solar fields, planned for Gratiot-Findlay, Van Dyke-Lynch, and State Fair are set to begin construction in spring as part of a broader initiative to generate renewable energy to power municipal buildings.

The solar projects are expected to produce 21 megawatts of renewable energy to power 127 city buildings while also incorporating community gardens and food production underneath the solar panels in two of the neighborhoods. 

Some residents and advocates have raised concerns about how the project will impact land use and the availability of open spaces in neighborhoods that have historically faced disinvestment. While many support the initiative for its sustainability goals, others have questioned whether the benefits will be equitably distributed or if the projects could further exacerbate disparities.

Duggan highlighted the commitment to avoid impacting owner-occupied homes in the neighborhood selection process.

“We had 19 neighborhoods come forward, and we had three winners,” Duggan said Thursday, during a press conference at Matrix Human Services to unveil the project design renderings. “We are only going to build solar fields where every single homeowner in that area voluntarily agrees that we are not going to take any owner-occupied house.”

Solar fields, flower and vegetable gardens

City officials said that each neighborhood’s design reflects input from residents, incorporating features such as decorative fencing, trees, perennial gardens, manicured meadows and agrivoltaics—areas where solar panels coexist with agricultural activities. 

“One of the communities wanted to have flowers, as opposed to the farm underneath, and we just said, whatever the community wants, we’re going to support,” Duggan said.

The Gratiot-Findlay and Van Dyke-Lynch neighborhoods will use agrivoltaics. The State Fair neighborhood will incorporate perennial beds instead of food production.

The solar field developers will work with local urban farmers to create crop plans and manage the agriculture component, said Tepfirah Rushdan, director of the Detroit Office of Sustainability.  

“The city is collaborating with developers and urban farmers to finalize the distribution plan, ensuring equitable access to the food grown while prioritizing community needs and sustainability,” Rushdan said in an email. 

Residents involved in design process

Hayley Henley, a resident of the Van Dyke-Lynch neighborhood, expressed optimism about the project. 

“I think it’s going to really benefit me as far as getting stuff done to my home, you know, and the neighborhood just needs help. It just needs to be back uplifted,” she told Planet Detroit.

Thanos Hadley, also a resident of Van Dyke Lynch, discussed her involvement in the design process. 

“We went to meetings at the church, and we gave our input. How do we want the fence to look? Did we want trees, flowers, shrubs, stuff like that?” she said. 

Hadley also noted the community’s initial surprise about the solar park plans but said she was excited about the project. 

“I didn’t know we was gonna have a solar park, but we’re beneficiaries outside the park, and we’re gonna have an upgrade, and the neighborhood is excited about this upgrade,” Hadley said.

“Two of the neighborhoods chosen will be growing vegetables on the same land below the solar field. So not only will we be powering the city with renewable energy, we’ll be providing food for the community,” Duggan said.

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City officials confirmed that land acquisition for the solar arrays remains on schedule. 

Donna Anthony of Gratiot-Findlay and vice president of the Caring Neighborhood Block Club, said she and her neighbors “didn’t have to just settle for anything.” 

At the first of three community meetings, residents placed a green, yellow or red dot next to their preferences. She pointed to six options of perennial flowers: vibrant crimson star columbine, or lilac nodding onion.

Her biggest concern was the introduction of edible vegetation in a community that struggles with rodents. 

Donna Anthony, resident of the Gratiot-Findlay neighborhood, chose agrivoltaics for the solar field planned for her neighborhood.

“It’s been open fields for 18, 20 years. There’s no activities, no livable houses,” Anthony said. “And they [the city of Detroit] listened to us. Half the garden is going to be flowers and the other half will be vegetables.” 

Anthony expressed excitement about the benefits the solar project will bring to her home, including insulation, new appliances and replacement of windows and doors. 

Homeowners like Anthony who live within community benefits areas surrounding the projects will receive $15,000 to $25,000 each for energy efficiency upgrades.

She said this will be a “tremendous” help to address issues in her “drafty” home, as she had previously received an estimate of $25,000 to replace eight windows. 

Economic development concerns

Some residents have expressed concern that the solar projects will block opportunities for economic development by tying up land where housing could be built.

Kevin Bingham, a resident of Greendale St. in the Grixdale neighborhood, previously expressed concerns about the potential impact of large solar projects on property values. 

“If you’re going to do a solar farm, there’s absolutely no reason to redo Seven Mile with businesses,” he said. The city opted not to continue with a project in the Grixdale neighborhood.

But Henley expressed her hopes that the project will revitalize her neighborhood and foster a sense of collective achievement. 

“I would like nothing more than to see the neighborhood just bounce back and just be beautiful all over, with the help of everyone—you know, the neighbors and everything—you know, we did this. We did this thing. We did this together.”