Neighborhoods east of Palmer Park could soon be transformed by a city plan to power municipal buildings with six solar fields, and neighbors are divided over the prospect.
Depending on who you ask, three projects for 140 acres of solar around the Chaldean Town, Greenfield Park, Grixdale Farms and State Fair neighborhoods are viewed as a major opportunity for residents or a risky undertaking that could drive disinvestment.
Residents have until Jan. 31 to sign a form indicating whether they approve of the projects that will be implemented in six city neighborhoods.
John Gruchala, who lives on Parkhurst near the proposed Greenfield Park solar project, has been in the neighborhood for fifty years and thinks solar developments could hurt efforts to attract more residents.
“This is the center of the metropolitan area, and you’re taking such valuable land,” he said of the neighborhood, which is within 15 minutes of downtown Detroit and Birmingham and close to expressways.
Brenda Price, who lives on Hildale Street near the Grixdale project site, supports the plan, saying it will reduce blight and offer a rare opportunity for residents to sell their homes.
“You can go in any direction in Detroit and find a neighborhood that looks like that, or blocks that look like that,” she said of the largely abandoned area in the solar field’s footprint. “The expectation that it’s going to change is not likely.”
The initiative, announced in June, could have profound consequences for the neighborhoods and the finances of those within its footprint if implemented.
After a series of community meetings, the city selected nine neighborhoods to consider for solar arrays, which will be narrowed to six, to assemble the 250 acres needed to power city buildings. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has pitched the program as a way to fight climate change and cut down on illegal dumping by fencing off abandoned areas.
Differing visions for what the solar plan will mean for residents led to a heated debate over the Grixdale Farms project at last week’s meeting at the American Community Council Youth Center on East Seven Mile, where more than 30 residents often shouted to be heard.
Some said the deal was too good to pass up for an area that has seen so much disinvestment, while others said large solar farms could hurt home values and kill future development. Some felt they didn’t have enough information to make an informed decision.
Outcomes for residents will depend on how houses are valued in a future buy-out, the amount of community benefits proposed for each homeowner and the effect solar fields will have on neighboring property values.
Homeowners in the footprints of the proposed solar fields stand to receive twice the fair market value of their homes or $90,000, whichever is higher, while renters will get 18 months of rent to relocate. Homeowners within community benefits areas surrounding the projects will receive $15,000 to $25,000 each for energy efficiency upgrades.
A city spokesperson previously told Planet Detroit the city is seeking federal credits to offset municipal operations’ energy use under the Inflation Reduction Act. It will choose the six neighborhoods that end up with solar panels based on which areas receive the most support.
“The decision of which areas are selected for solar arrays will be determined by which of the finalist neighborhoods demonstrate the highest level of support compared to the others,” Erinn Harris, deputy director of the Department of Neighborhoods, told Planet Detroit.
City council will vote on whether to approve the plan once the city selects the six final project proposals.
Property values, crime and city control
Kevin Bingham, who lives on Greendale St. in the Grixdale project’s community benefits area, said large solar projects would be unattractive and is concerned they could hurt property values.
A recent study on solar fields in California, Connecticut, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Massachusetts found properties within half a mile had values drop by 1.5%, although outcomes varied by state.
Bingham worries that the plans signal the city is abandoning the neighborhood.
“If you’re going to do a solar farm, there’s absolutely no reason to redo Seven Mile with businesses,” he said. He’s also concerned about what removing residents could mean for schools and businesses.
Bingham, an arborist, would lose two lots on Robinwood Street and one on Goldengate that he purchased to protect large oak trees that he says are several hundred years old. He expressed concern about removing tree cover, which helps mitigate against the urban heat island effect and flooding.
Although climate experts say solar power is crucial for dealing with the climate crisis, research shows solar arrays can create a localized increase in temperature. This may be a problem in Detroit, where the heat island effect, or the capacity of hard surfaces to absorb and re-emit heat, can amplify temperatures by 8 degrees or more.
Understandable to me why many would not want solar farms in urban neighborhoods. OTOH, perhaps I am biased, because I think big solar should be sited where insolation is highest and population is lowest, ie, the American Southwest.
Saving the exosphere and much of the human race is no excuse for improving abandoned neighborhoods.
When you frame a proposition like that, you are making the same argument that despots use: “What is one life compared to winning a war?”.
Solar can be sited anywhere, but a Detroit neighborhood is not ideal under any measure.
General blunt observation. All proposed renewable sites, whether solar, wind and especially hydro, and related infrastructure, attract squealing complaining nimby screams. As we actually are in a war, and the stakes immense, they can go to hell. Squarks about fossil energy sites are acceptable.
Saying no to a local solar array because something better would be put there instead seems like wishful thinking.
I am sympathetic to the concerns about tree cover loss and increased heat island effect. (It would be different if the array were instead being installed over existing paved/built land.)
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep35070