Sumpter Planners OK solar farm, portable storage containers language

Proposed text amendments to the township zoning ordinance to include language for Large Energy Solar Systems and Portable Storage Units were approved by the Sumpter Township Planning Commission at its regular meeting Dec. 14.
The amendments were sent on to the township board for final action on the commission’s recommendations.
There was a bit of confusion when Zoning Administrator Christopher Atkin, of Carlisle/Wortman in Ann Arbor, found that he had inadvertently sent commission members earlier versions of the amendments, which were the wrong versions.
He advised members of the commission to “talk among yourselves” for a while, so he could power up his laptop and search out the completed documents he had intended to send them.
After friendly banter among commissioners about the holidays and the recent snowstorm, Atkin found the documents and Deputy Clerk Dawn Hadyniak, who is the commission’s recording secretary, went to make copies for commission members so they could properly discuss the agenda items.
The six-page amendment for Large Energy Solar Farms laid out requirements for the siting, installation, operation, repair, decommissioning and removal of such systems within the AG, Agricultural District, as a Special Land Use. The site needs to be at least 10 acres in size.
The commission has been considering language since it heard about a big solar farm approved in Augusta Township next door and questions were asked of Sumpter Township about a similar land use.
The two-page zoning amendment for Portable Storage Containers lays out the rules for using these containers as a permanent detached accessory structure incidental to a principal structure or on a temporary basis.
The containers are permitted in all zoning districts, but, “A portable storage container shall not be utilized for or contain habitable space.”