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KALKASKA - After mulling over the findings of a third party consultant, Rapid River Renewable Energy (R3E) has reached the conclusion that it will no longer pursue development at its proposed site in Rapid River Township.

R3E rescinded their application via an e-mail sent by project manager Benjamin Brower to the County of Kalkaska Planning and Zoning commission on Monday night. This e-mail stated that he and the Jordan Exploration Company were unwilling and, in several cases, unable to meet the requirements set forth in Williams and Works' memorandum, which detailed the steps that would have to be taken in order to proceed.

During the Oct. 15 meeting of the Planning Commission Board, Brower said that it became apparent that the board would only begin to review a proposal if it met the requirements set forth by Williams & Works, as well as potentially additional conditions that the commissioners may yet add. "In our opinion, these conditions are unreasonable, uneconomic and add unnecessary requirements with no clear benefit to the community," Brower said. "The terms and conditions set forth are very onerous to the point that they will not allow us to build our proposed wood-fired power plant at this site."

Part of the requirements that were being sought was a provision where Brower agreed that the power plant would not burn anything other than what was originally proposed for burning.

"They never did answer a lot of critical questions," Rapid River Township Supervisor Phyllis Senske said. "When we tried to pin them down to say that they would just burn wood, we could not get them to guarantee that." The concern expressed by the supervisor is that the R3E would deviate if circumstances became difficult.

"Power plants have gone the route of burning other materials, such as phone books and tires, when they get in a bind and we wanted to ensure that they couldn't do that," she said.

From a job generation standpoint, Dean Farrier, the Chairman of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), and a local surveyor who works regularly with site plans for the Kalkaska County Planning and Zoning Board review, said the withdrawal is unfortunate.

"I think it's a missed opportunity for the Kalkaska community," he said. "Economically, it's a sad day for the county. I can't blame R3E for wanting to move forward in a timely fashion. For an event like this, our structure is too slow to respond."

In addition to the slow pace and the questions about what they would burn if their supplies were dwindling, the process itself also presents many hurdles to overcome, he said.

"This has shown some flaws in the process new businesses must go through to locate in our area," Farrier said. "I think we have a good county zoning ordinance. It's just that making amendments to it is cumbersome."

Brower said that he was looking to move his plant to an area where the community would be more welcoming.

"It is our desire to locate a proposed power facility in a location where the community welcomes us and where we can obtain the necessary approvals in a timely manner," he said.

A week ago, the Antrim County Board of Commissioners and the Mancelona Township Board sent a letter of support to the state, detailing that they would be open to the possibility of a wood-burning plant being constructed in Mancelona. Whether they go that route or not, it is apparent that trying to locate in Kalkaska County was getting the company nowhere.

"We have suffered a financial loss by pursuing a site in Kalkaska County that seemed to make sense for many reasons, but the actions of Kalkaska County have made it impossible to proceed," Brower said. "In particular, we find it hard to understand the willingness to shut down the possibility of good, high-paying jobs that this plant would have provided."

If the plant is built in Mancelona, its positive and negative effects will still be felt by the county that seemingly spurned it.

"As far as job base, Kalkaska County is still going to see some positive effects if the plant locates in Antrim County," Farrier said. "We just won't see any tax revenue."

Concerned citizens from Rapid River Township will still worry that the plant is too close, said Senske.

"There are people in this township who will continue to pursue this topic even if the plant moves to Antrim because it would still be in their immediate area and they could still experience the negative effects," she said.

The language of the e-mail left open the slight possibility that the Jordan Exploration Company could be lured back into negotiations with Kalkaska County; but the window for success is growing slim. The e-mail also demanded that all additional withdrawals from the escrow account they had set up be halted and that the unused portion of the funding be returned.

"Because a power plant is not in our zoning ordinance, it would take a lot of political action to do a text amendment first to allow the plant and then to convince R3E to come back," Farrier said. "In this county, they've already run into the attitude where people admit that they need jobs; but also don't want the businesses in their backyards."

Josh Perttunen welcomes reactions to this story and all others at Jperttunen@michigannewspapers.com.