Buying Land in Montcalm County, Michigan

A rejected wind farm, then an advancing solar project -- covered in full on our dedicated page

Montcalm County has one of the more genuinely dramatic recent renewable-energy stories in Michigan, and it looks quite different from neighboring Gratiot County's largely welcomed wind-and-solar buildout. Apex Clean Energy's proposed Montcalm Wind project -- as many as 75 turbines proposed across roughly 50,000 acres in eleven townships -- was put to local voters and rejected in a November 2022 referendum, after which seven local officials who had supported the project were recalled. Since then, a different renewable project has advanced on a different track: Ranger Power's Freshwater Solar and Freshwater II Solar projects, a combined 300-megawatt solar facility in Day Township, received Michigan Public Service Commission approval of a related power-purchase agreement with Consumers Energy in March 2024 and are targeting operation around 2027.

If you're evaluating land in Montcalm County -- whether as a potential host for a future lease, a neighbor to the Day Township solar project, or simply curious about the local political dynamics around renewable energy here -- see our dedicated wind-and-solar-leasing page for Montcalm County, which covers this contrast in detail.

Zoning: individual townships, confirm each one directly

Montcalm County's government is led by a Board of Commissioners, but consistent with Michigan's township-primary zoning system statewide, the county's roughly 20 townships -- Belvidere, Bloomer, Bushnell, Cato, Crystal, Day, Douglass, Eureka, Evergreen, Fairplains, Ferris, Home, Maple Valley, Montcalm, Pierson, Pine, Reynolds, Richland, Sidney, and Winfield -- generally handle their own local government functions, including zoning, building, and permitting. This page did not confirm a complete, current list of exactly which townships have adopted their own zoning ordinance versus any area that might fall under a county-level ordinance -- given the level of controversy renewable energy has generated here, zoning specifics (including any wind or solar overlay-district rules, setbacks, and decommissioning requirements) are worth confirming directly with the specific township before assuming a given standard applies.

Septic and wells: the Mid-Michigan District Health Department

Septic systems and wells in Montcalm County are permitted by the Mid-Michigan District Health Department (MMDHD), a three-county district also covering Clinton and Gratiot Counties, reachable at (989) 875-3681. As with the rest of Michigan, a sanitary permit requires a licensed soil evaluator's site assessment and system design before MMDHD approves it, and a copy of the well and septic permit typically needs to be in hand before a building permit can be issued for new construction.