Comstock Township’s Planning Commission approved the special land use request for the 400-megawatt Swan and Cygnet battery storage project.
The commission voted 5-1 to approve the special land use request from developer Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, with Township Board Liaison Amber Lawrence casting the lone no vote after raising concerns about the project’s health and safety finding of fact. Commissioners then voted 6-0, with Lawrence joining the majority, to find that the project meets the standards in the township’s battery energy storage ordinance, and voted 6-0 again to approve the site plan itself. Chair Larry Nichols, Vice-Chair Gregory Nowak, Secretary James Criteser, and members Joseph Weintraub and Keith Wilcher voted in favor at each stage.
Several commissioners said during discussion that, whatever their personal views on the project, they felt legally bound to approve it once the applicant met every requirement in the township’s ordinance. The project would combine two separately owned components — the 16.95-acre Swan and 22.27-acre Cygnet systems — on the former Hickory Ridge Golf Course, together providing 400 megawatts and 1,600 megawatt-hours of storage capacity.
Approval came with a lengthy list of conditions. The developer agreed to conduct sound studies before, during, and after construction, install dark-sky-friendly lighting, and retain existing vegetation with additional screening along the northern property boundary. The township will require both a performance bond and a decommissioning bond, held in trust with Comstock as beneficiary, with the decommissioning bond updated every three years to account for inflation — a letter of credit will not be accepted as a substitute. The developer must also maintain an escrow account to cover township costs associated with reviewing and monitoring the project, conduct baseline and annual water quality testing, and replace any fire department equipment used or contaminated during an emergency response at the site. Commissioners considered, but ultimately voted against, requiring an emergency siren with voice capability, citing concerns that an additional layer of alerts could cause confusion alongside the township’s existing electronic notification systems.
A binding community host agreement between the developer and the township must still be finalized before any building permit can be issued. Commission members and the township attorney emphasized that Thursday’s votes don’t clear the way for construction to begin — the developer still needs to complete a decommissioning agreement, a development agreement, fire safety and emergency response planning, and county and state permitting before work can start.
The commission’s next steps include monthly updates on the project’s progress as those remaining approvals move forward.
