Climate Solutions Week: Local zoning

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

It’s NPR’s 2025 Climate Solutions Week.

This year’s topic is “Rethinking Home.” NPR will bring us stories from around the country about ways our homes and communities can be more resilient and offer solutions to the changing climate.

We here at IPR are talking about what all this might mean in northern Michigan. Today we're talking about everyone’s favorite topic: local government. Specifically, how these local bodies can figure out complicated issues such as new zoning laws for renewable energy projects.

This is not a sexy topic. But zoning is really important when it comes to how communities address energy and climate issues. (Think about legal battles we’ve seen over where to put large solar arrays, for instance.)

Sarah Mills, an associate professor and the director of the University of Michigan’s Center for EmPowering Communities, joined IPR's Izzy Ross to talk through some questions submitted by listeners.

The question and answer have been lightly edited for length and clarity. Listen at the audio player above or read below.

IPR staff member Alexandra Herryman asked about how local governments should approach zoning...

"I'm thinking about a lot of these rural communities that are managed by groups of citizens that form some sort of community, like a township board with a president," Herryman asked.

"And up here, a lot of that is managed by people who have other careers and are doing planning and zoning as a service to their community, rather than something they're educated in, but are being encouraged to make zoning and land use choices without necessarily a whole lot of experience or training in those kind of decisions. So in your opinion, what is the most valuable tool that small rural governments could use to change their zoning to make it more alternative energy friendly?"

Mills said small, rural governments weren't the only ones dealing with low capacity and a lack of deep knowledge on energy zoning.

She said there are over 1,350 local planning bodies in the state that have zoning powers.

Mills: "All of those planning commissioners are just volunteers. Sometimes, in some communities, they get a small stipend, but I have sat on the planning commission in the City of Ann Arbor for the last 10 years, and it is 100% volunteer. I have a PhD in planning, and there's still things that I'm like, ‘Whoa, this is complex.’ Right? There's a lot. So we're sort of all in the same boat." 

Mills directs the University of Michigan’s Center for EmPowering Communities. And she said to help out all those local governments, they’ve actually developed fill-in-the-blank zoning ordinances for all sorts of energy projects.

The Michigan Legislature passed a law in 2023 — PA 233 — giving the state final say in whether or not large-scale renewable projects got approval.

Mills: "It was done in response to the fact that lots of communities said no to renewables and it would be impossible to meet the state laws — the new requirements that utilities have to get power from renewables — if communities continued to say no." 

There are ways that local governments can ensure that a developer has to work with them first on these projects. Essentially, their zoning can’t be more restrictive than the state. Local governments can also work with developers even if their zoning doesn't match the law's requirements.

Mills said the center recently updated their zoning resources for local governments to take the 2023 law into account. Her team also works with the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy to group together all those zoning templates, they’ve created informational videos about renewables and they lead tours of wind and solar farms.

Mills: "Most of it tends to be for the big stuff, because, again, that's where most people start to have lots of questions. But all of these guides also include how you should think — how you might think about rooftop solar. If you see, I corrected myself there — rather than ‘should,’ how you ‘might.’ These are fill-in-the-blank. We help people understand the implications of what filling in the blank might look like, but the sense is, you need to figure out what is most appropriate in your place."

A policy that makes sense in Ann Arbor or Grand Rapids might not work up here in northern Michigan, and this isn't a one-size-fits-all approach; according to Mills, these tools can be customized for different communities.

Resources for local governments include Planning & Zoning for Solar Energy Systems: A Guide for Michigan Local Governments, 2025 Edition, resources to help local governments navigate the 2023 energy siting law, and more.