Clinton Township board postpones overhead power line project

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — A controversial power line development by International Transmission Company spanning more than 80 acres along 19 Mile Road is on hold for now.

A decision about the project, which connects the Shrine Substation on 19 Mile at Garfield Road to the Lenox-Stephens circuit on Hayes Road, was postponed following a unanimous vote from the Clinton Township Board of Trustees at its Sept. 30 meeting. The board will take up the issue again, once it has more information, at its Oct. 21 meeting.

While a no vote from the board would provide a blow to the project, it doesn’t seem like it would halt it entirely.

Steven Estey, an attorney representing ITC, said the company could ultimately go around the township’s ordinance. The ordinance in question is the essential services portion of the township’s zoning code. However, Estey said this could be overridden if ITC went through the year-long process for approval laid out in Michigan’s Act 30 of 1995.

Despite this, board members critiqued the project and the way that it made it to the board meeting itself.

Trustee Dan Kress, who voted against the project, advocated to have the lines built underground instead. Kress said he knocked on doors and not a single person he talked to in the impacted area wanted the overhead power lines in their community.

“I just think it’s bullying by a couple billion-dollar corporations to do that to our residents,” Kress said.

Cynthia Stump, ITC’s local government and community affairs regional manager, explained that putting the lines overhead instead of underground is the most cost-effective option for everyone involved in the project.

Kress also pointed to concerns about power lines and links to cancer.

Stump pushed back on that, saying the project is safe.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, there is no consistent link between power lines and cancer in scientific studies. However, research for this is ongoing and the World Health Organization does say such a link is possible.

Township Supervisor Bob Cannon voiced his frustration with the way ITC brought about the project, but emphasized its importance. He categorized ITC as “bullies” in the way it pushes projects through in communities.

“Anybody who thinks this isn’t an emergency is wrong,” Cannon said. “The hospital is my number one concern.”

Henry Ford Vice President of Operations Michael Markel said that if more power is not diverted to the hospital, patients could be impacted.

“The hospital is not running as designed,” Markel said.

Stump said that Henry Ford reached out to ITC about the need for more power to the hospital in 2019. While Stump said the plans arrived at the township around the same time, Planning Director Bruce Thompson said he didn’t recall seeing any plans until 2024. Thompson said when the township offered alternatives to ITC, the company was responsive to the alternatives the township put forward.

Estey said it would take two times longer to construct the project underground than the overhead option. He said two years went into planning how the lines could be installed.

“The cost does get pushed on to the ratepayers. It’s 10 times more expensive than putting them overhead,” Estey said.

Both Trustee Julie Matuzak and Kress emphasized that they didn’t think a project like this would be pushed through in neighboring, more affluent communities.

“This is not in harmony with the neighborhood. It just isn’t,” Trustee Julie Matuzak said.

Trustee Mike Keys agreed with Matuzak, but qualified his views on power lines and cancer.

“I don’t want people leaving the meeting thinking that all the township board members have tinfoil hats,” Keys said. “I don’t have a concern that our residents are not safe with these going up in our community.”

Resident Sam Buschell said that poles were not in harmony with the community and that the meeting should not be postponed. He said the lines should run underground.

Resident Fred Nienstedt was in favor of postponement and asked whether the redevelopment of the former Lakeside Mall would need increased power from this substation in the future.