By Marc Schollett
Monday, July 13, 2009 at 1:01 p.m.
Read more: Local, Marc, Schollett, Fact, Finder, Natural, Gas, Trendwell, Fact Finder
A Northern Michigan man, like a lot of folks, bought his dream property with hopes of peace and quite. But that quiet won't last long, after he learned what was going in next door. He had unanswered questions, the answer I found for him the subject of this Fact Finder.
Marc Anderson smiles when he thinks about his Antrim County home, and the reason he calls it his sanctuary "I have lived here in this particular house for 4 years and we loved the location. It's seclusion, its quiet, nature, that sort of thing." So it didn't come as surprise to Anderson when he heard that someone had bought about 25 acres next door to his piece of nature. Andersen says "my neighbor called me and told me he sold it to a couple who were planning on building a house a couple of years down the road, then retiring to it.
The surprise for Andersen came days later. He explains "shortly thereafter I saw a big SUV down there. They were doing some measuring. I stopped and introduced myself, asked if they were my new neighbors. They said yes, that's when I found out that Trendwell had purchased the property to put a facility in there."
Trendwell was not a retiring couple looking to build a home. They are an energy company out of Rockford looking to build a natural gas compressor facility on the property next door, and according to Andersen that "means noise 24-7 everyday of the year. That was my biggest problem for my son and I who live closest to the facility about 5-600 feet to be safe I would say."
So how much noise? Andersen took me down the road to a natural gas facility to let me listen. Since that facility is on private property we were only ably to get about 1000 feet away from it. Andersen says the plant that will be going in next door to him will be smaller and not include the exact same equipment, but will also be closer. As we listened to the example, you could hear what sounded like an idling truck. Andersen says "it's just too close in proximity to our house and it's very peaceful here, as you know by walking around with me this facility is not going to be, they told me straight up, yes, you are going to be able to hear it."
Andersen was more than disappointed. He understood why the company wanted the facility here, but imagined he was protected against such a project since his property and that next door is zoned agricultural or residential. Andersen argued "I want to build a house I have to get a zoning permit and they come here and tell me this is where I can put my house, and I was truly surprised that a company like Trendwell can put a facility, an industrial facility because that is what is in a residential area so close in proximity to the house."
Andersen wanted answers so my first stop was to the Torch Lake Township Hall. I sat down with Bill Briggs the township zoning administrator and asked him how is this facility allowed to go into a residential or agriculturally zoned property. Briggs responded "well it has to do with pumping natural gas which is classified as an essential service, as most utilities are, and they are exempt from normal zoning regulations." This means even though its zoned one way, it's for an essential service. Therefore Trendwell didn't need rezoning. According to Briggs they didn't even need permission from the zoning department. In fact Briggs says "I don't think the township knew about this. I believe the property was acquired in a sort of stealthy manner and the first we heard about, the first I heard about it was a couple of weeks ago when Marc Andersen who lives nearby came in and told me about the noisy compressor that he believed was going in."
So from the township side, it's allowed, on the grounds it's an essential service. Andersen came to terms with that. But wondered why on a 25 acre parcel of land, wasn't one of the other building sites chosen which was further from his home. Andersen says "the fist site would have been acceptable to me. I knew I was probably going to be able to hear it but not directly because the noise would have naturally funneled down Hjelte Road. Geez the closest house from the area is across Hjelte Road and it's a lot further away than we are from it."
I contacted Trendwell Energy with Andersen's concerns and questions. They told me the arrived the building site on the property in conjunction with the DEQ. They say they will be following the DEQ's guidelines when it comes to distances, and sound levels. They say they will install a newer smaller compressor and used special mufflers and insulation to lower the sounds levels. The sound that does escape they hope will be absorbed by this berm they built. The bottom line according to Trendwell: "Unfortunately, we were not able to keep the Anderson's happy here, but we believe that we will work as hard as we can and spend the additional monies that we need to try the best to keep the noise of the compressor and sight of the CPF to a minimum from the Anderson's perspective."
So chances are the township you live in has a similar essential services clause which overrides any zoning. Andersen understands the need for the facility, but still is left wondering if a better site on the same piece of property wouldn't have been a decent compromise.
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