COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Branch County Planning Commission Chair Debbie Lounds-Bowers said during Wednesday’s meeting that McKenna and Associates was the only firm out of three to respond to their request to help them update the County’s Master Plan which will cost about $34,500.
Lounds-Bowers indicated she will soon be coming before the Branch County Board of Commissioners in relation to the Master Plan, but she needed to talk first with Planner Patrick Hudson from the Southcentral Michigan Planning Council.
The process of updating the Master Plan will include public meetings, community forums and on line surveys. It’s estimated the process will take from 18 months to two years.
Updating the County’s Master Plan has been called for by Concerned Citizens of Branch County who against the siting of proposed wind turbines in the northwestern part of the county.
But they maybe out of luck on their request for a county wide moratorium on the construction of wind turbines.
After a legal and planning review, County Administrator Bud Norman said Wednesday one issue was only 12 townships in Branch County currently have zoning, and also that a ballot question in Union Township to have a zoning board was defeated by 25 votes last November.
He said a moratorium has to have teeth in it, and right now, that does not exist for the county.
Lounds-Bowers said she was starting to write a moratorium for the Planning Commission to review but she got information from the Michigan State University Extension office which recommended a moratorium can only be issued by cities, townships and villages and not by the county.
In addition, there is no statutory authority for local governments to adopt moratoriums in the first place and they would likely not stand up to legal challenges.
Lounds-Bowers said with that information, at this point she couldn’t see where the Planning Commission could begin to make a recommendation on a moratorium.
