- City council approves the first phase of the Detroit Solar Plan, which will develop 104 acres of solar fields in the Gratiot-Findlay, Van Dyke-Lynch and State Fair neighborhoods.
- However, Council President Marry Sheffield objected to the resolutions enabling the first phase of the plan and said litigation was “imminent.”
- Sheffield also raised concerns about DTE Energy’s role as a developer of three projects, noting their opposition to community solar.
The Duggan administration’s plan to place large solar arrays in Detroit neighborhoods moved forward this week, with Detroit City Council voting to approve land acquisition and contracts for the first three projects.
Mayor Mike Duggan has pitched the Detroit solar plan to offset city buildings’ energy use and fight blight by developing large areas with solar farms and fencing them off. However, some city council members questioned the speed with which the project was advanced and DTE Energy’s role as a developer for some projects, a company that has fought legislation to enable community solar in Michigan.
“My support for solar panels, solar farms, reducing our carbon footprint, and renewable energy is serious. I think climate change is real,” said Council President Mary Sheffield, who objected to what she said was a rushed process and a failure to consider the potential for housing in the targeted areas or other strategies for producing renewable energy.
“I still believe that we have not studied or explored scenarios or policies that represent a different path to reducing our carbon footprint through solar panels or green roofs on newly constructed or current buildings,” she said.
The resolutions to begin the first phase of solar projects in the Gratiot-Findlay, Van Dyke-Lynch and State Fair neighborhoods were passed with objections from Sheffield and members Angela Whitfield-Calloway and Gabriela Santiago-Romero. Council also approved the creation of a $4.4 million fund to purchase homes in the five neighborhoods being considered for three projects that will make up the second phase of the Detroit solar farms initiative.
The first three neighborhoods will host 104 acres of solar farms out of a planned total of around 200 acres.
Homeowners in the footprint of these projects will receive twice the fair market value of their homes or $90,000, whichever is higher, and renters will get 18 months of rent to relocate. Homeowners living in the community benefits areas surrounding the projects will each receive $15,000 to $25,000 for energy efficiency improvements.
Residents weigh in on Detroit solar farms plan as city stresses urgency
Detroit Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallet told the city council that it was important to act quickly to approve the project so that speculators don’t begin buying up more lots in the areas targeted for solar.
“Part of the reason that time is not on our side is that people could come in and buy these vacant lots and drive up the price on purpose,” he said.
Maesha Parker, a Finley-Gratiot resident, said she supported the program because it addressed blight and improved the lives of children in her neighborhood.
“We go bike riding…and we see the blight. We take our youth with us, and they see the blight,” she said. We want to turn blight into light. Our children need these solar panels so they can see how the neighborhood is changing for them when they ride through it.”
However, Kyle Kentala, a District 2 resident, said the city did a poor job reaching out to residents about the proposed solar fields in her neighborhood and was “offering homeowners and neighbors a dismal one-time payment for acres of solar fields that they won’t benefit from long term.”
“Being told that dump sites, blight and vacant homes will finally be taken care of when the city hasn’t fixed these issues today, when tax-paying Detroiters live in these areas, doesn’t add up,” Kentala said.
Concerns remain about litigation and DTE involvement
Sheffield said the city will be open to litigation for potentially using residentially zoned land incorrectly for the project and its use of eminent domain.
“We are rushing this through when our own attorneys have told us several times that, litigation, it’s not if it happens it’s when, and it is imminent,” she said.
Council received a legal opinion from a law firm on the issue but this isn’t public.
Sheffield also asked why the city didn’t consider putting solar arrays in rural areas as Chicago, Cincinnati and Philadelphia have done. She noted that DTE, which will develop three of the Detroit solar farm projects, has fought community solar. Community solar can directly benefit residents by allowing them to subscribe to an offsite solar installation in exchange for credits on their energy bills.
“I have not heard a commitment from DTE, either verbally or in writing, ….[in support of] community solar moving forward,” she said. “One can only surmise that’s…because community solar would decrease [DTE’s] profit and benefit residents.”