Farm owners have banded together in response to METC Coldwater capital project.
Michigan Electrical Transmission Company or METC is a subsidiary of ITC that owns transmission facilities on the western side of Michigan. METC is embarking on a new capital project in Coldwater, Michigan. This project will entail acquiring easements over primarily agricultural land to install new transmission lines. I have been retained by a significant number of property impacted owners.
At this point, ITC is still evaluating the specifics of the tower location. To that end, METC is evaluating the property. For example, METC is undertaking wetland delineations, presumably to avoid the need to obtain MDEQ permits to install towers in wetlands. METC has also retained a real estate appraiser in order to supply good faith offers.
I have not viewed the easements that METC will seek to acquire but I am fairly confident that the easements acquired in condemnation will be more favorable to property owners than those voluntarily granted. For example, when ITC acquired easements over farmland in the Thumb region of Michigan, they included crop damage provisions.
I assume that appraisals will be completed this summer and that METC will be filing suit later this year.
If you have been targeted by ITC, please feel free to contact me about joining our established group. There is strength in numbers.
This blog post explains issues relating to ITC takings.