Trustees table controversial powerline development in Clinton Twp.

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — Most of the attendees at Clinton Township’s Nov. 12 Board of Trustees meeting were there to voice their opposition to a controversial powerline development by the International Transmission Company.

The proposed development spans more than 80 acres along 19 Mile Road. At issue is its route, which would cut through the Westchester Village Condominiums near the intersection of 19 Mile and Hayes Road.

ITC Area Manager Gary Kirsh said all routes for the line presented challenges.

“ITC’s proposed route is the most direct route and avoids many of the challenges, but still has residential impacts,” Kirsh said. “By the numbers, this route has the lowest residential impacts. But for those residents along 19 Mile, we acknowledge the impact they are feeling and their position that any impact is too much.”

ITC has pitched the line as being vital to delivering more power to Henry Ford Macomb Hospital. Representatives from the hospital spoke strongly in favor of the proposed line. Shanna Johnson, president of Henry Ford Macomb, said that the hospital provides emergency care that makes it unique in the region and in need of the additional power.

“The completed project is expected to exceed $300 million,” Johnson said. “This will elevate our campus to a level of patient care that we deserve in this Clinton Township and greater Macomb community.”

Representatives for ITC and Henry Ford Health recommended a plan that would run the lines above ground. Residents from the condos and township trustees opposed this option. Trustee Dan Kress suggested examining different routes, including running the line underground. Gieleghem advocated for running the lines in a route that would cut through Macomb Community College’s Clinton Township campus.

Trustee Julie Matuzak said she changed her mind about putting the lines underground after she learned about what the process would involve.

Kirsh said, if the lines were buried, the construction area would be approximately 50 feet wide and 20 feet deep. He said all roads the line is crossing would be impacted and, if there’s a future disruption, the process to fix it would be difficult.

“The cost is spread across everybody in the system. It’s not something where ITC makes more money if it’s above ground or below ground,” Kirsh said.

Trustees both for and against the development, ranging from Kress to outgoing Township Supervisor Bob Cannon, emphasized the importance of getting power to the hospital.

The issue had previously come in front of the board at its Sept. 30 meeting and a decision was unanimously postponed until the board’s Oct. 21 meeting. The issue never made the October meeting’s agenda and was again pushed to the Nov. 12 meeting.

Approval of the development was tabled at the Nov. 12 meeting with Kress, Trustee Mike Keys, Matuzak and Township Treasurer Paul Gieleghem all voting in favor of it. Cannon, Trustee Tammy Patton and Township Clerk Kim Meltzer voted against it.

Prior to the vote, Meltzer clarified that if the meeting was tabled there would be no set date for it to appear before the board again. She said she would add it to the agenda for the Nov. 25 board meeting.

According to Kress, who made the motion, tabling the meeting would allow time to review the 171-page document that was put in the board packet prior to the meeting. He said he would like the planning department and residents to weigh in on the development. Representatives from ITC and Henry Ford Heath said they submitted the materials Oct. 30. However, Kress, Matuzak and some in the audience said they did not see the packet attached until the day of the meeting.

Marc Corriveau, Henry Ford vice president and chief government relations officer, said a supplemental document was submitted the night of the meeting discussing why the preferred route was recommended.

Resident Georgia Kontoudis asked if ITC provided an option to bury the lines to the township prior to the meeting. Planning Commission Director Bruce Thompson said they did not.

Patton asked township attorney Jack Dolan about potential costs to the township to install the buried lines. Dolan mentioned two water lines on 19 Mile that could be an obstacle. One is an abandoned line and the second replaces it.

“Those are lines that run in a longitudinal fashion from Hayes Road, where Clinton Township begins, down past the site where they make the turn past the hospital and head further north to the actual substation,” Dolan said.

Therese Lenzini’s daughter lives in the condos that would be impacted by the development and questioned compensation provided by ITC.

“I’d like to know, because this is obviously going to make you a lot of money, what they’re going to do for the residents of Westchester Village, whose condo complex is going to be greatly affected by this,” Lenzini said.

Kirsh said the condo association’s bylaws require them to go through the state’s condemnation process. This process is established by Michigan Public Act 87 of 1980 and requires ITC to go about compensating residents impacted by the development in a particular way. In order to move the condemnation process forward, ITC needed to enter into individual lawsuits with impacted residents.

Attorney Geoffrey Denstaedt, in-house legal counsel for ITC, said the condo association is not permitted to grant easements that are not for the benefit of the association.

“We spent almost a year talking to residents and businesses along this route in an attempt to secure voluntary easements and participation for the transmission line,” Denstaedt said.

Denstaedt said the condemnation process works in two steps. First, residents affected by the project are offered a sum in compensation. Then a lawsuit is filed by the entity that needs the easement for the project. Landowners have an opportunity to object to it, which Denstaedt said none of the residents have done. The second part of the process is compensation.

“We have deposited into escrow monies that we deemed to be the estimated just compensation,” Denstaedt said. “However, like many things, the American jurisprudence system is an avenue of conflict resolution. We believe the easement is worth X dollars. Please present evidence to us why you disagree and what you think is the correct compensation.”

Dolan, while agreeing with Denstaedt, discussed the practical difficulties of the condemnation system. Dolan laid the blame on the state’s system itself. He said residents of the condo complex who are less directly impacted by the development would have difficulties getting legal representation in court. This problem stems from a smaller amount paid out to these residents. He said this is the source of dissatisfaction with many who come to the meetings.

“Only a more limited number of the actual participants in the litigation at this point have attorneys and have pending claims on compensation,” Dolan said. “By far, most of the claims have actually resulted in default where the people were pretty much stuck with what was offered because they did not have the ability to obtain representation.”

Heather Puzan, another resident who lives in the condos, spoke out against the project. She said she was concerned about how long it would take for the landscaping ITC would install to reach its full potential. She also mentioned how the lines would decrease the value of her unit and would make for an eyesore.

“My home is now going to be somewhere I want to leave,” she said.

Recent Clinton Township Trustee candidate Vito Strolis, who was not elected, said how he thought the development put the residents and board in a bad spot.

“I feel sorry for the board because I think you were bullied by a bunch of thugs,” Strolis said. “I thought the attorneys for ITC were rude to the residents and, more importantly, they were rude to the board. They basically threatened everyone here.”

Cannon said he was irritated by how ITC went about getting the project approved. Despite this, he said he saw ITC work through past projects with the community.

“It was always resolved, and ITC always did exactly what they promised the neighbors,” he said.

The process for ITC getting approval is relatively new. The township’s zoning code was updated in 2023 to make essential service projects receive township approval. At the Sept. 30 meeting, Steven Estey, an attorney representing ITC, said if the project was not approved it could be overridden at the state level. This is made possible through a year-long approval process laid out in Michigan’s Act 30 of 1995.

At one point, Cannon accused Kress of going door-to-door and stirring the pot at the condos for political gain. Audience members shouted back, “He did not.” Cannon, in a heated exchange, threatened to have the audience members removed if they didn’t stop speaking out of turn.

“I went door-to-door. Only a handful of residents were home,” Kress responded. “I went to them because nobody was representing them and their concerns.”