Ethanol plant plans could be modified

City planners are looking for ways to make a proposed sugar-based ethanol plant more palatable to residents.

Steve Larsen requested that the city amend the zoning code to allow the plant under the current zoning, I-1B industrial. The plant would operate in the former Bohn Piston plant on Aylworth Avenue.

Zoning Administrator Bill Spaeth said fuel production is allowed under a different industrial zone, I-2, but not under the I-1B.

At last month's meeting, several residents voiced concerns about possible odors, emissions, truck traffic, fire safety and impact on surrounding property values. Larsen has been providing additional information on the proposal at the request of city staff and planners, Spaeth said.

The planners at the workshop discussed ways to restrict ethanol production for the current zoning, Spaeth said.

For example, they are considering a regulation that would only allow sugar-based ethanol production, which produces less odor than a starch-based facility, he said. The amount of ethanol to be produced could be limited, Spaeth said.

Larsen said the public needs to realize that sugar-based ethanol does not require any material drying, unlike starch or corn-based ethanol plants like the one in South Bend. As a result, the odor issue is reduced, he said.

He also said the fire safety issue is overblown. Larsen said a typical gas station in the city poses more of a threat of fire from the underground fuel tanks than the ethanol plant.

The plans call for two companies to produce different ethanol product lines in the facility: DeAnza Fuel Group of Grand Rapids, which would make a 50 percent ethanol blend; and a new venture, Renewable Energy Technologies, which would make 100 percent ethanol.

The commission will continue its public hearing on the matter at its next regular meeting Thursday.

The planners next week will also continue the public hearing and discussion on a proposed new city ordinance to regulate wind turbines.

A draft of the proposal will be presented to the commission for approval, Spaeth said.

Wind turbines would require a special use permit, and there would be two different regulatory categories: one for towers and turbines up to 40 feet high, and one for towers and turbines between 40 and 200 feet high.

source: istockanalyst