In 2020 St. Joseph County enacted a solar farm ordinance that rolled out the red carpet for solar energy firms but on Tuesday the county took a step toward rolling back that red carpet a bit.
The Area Plan Commission unanimously voted to give a favorable recommendation to some changes to the ordinance.
The area plan staff, acting on a request by county commissioners, created the ordinance that earned the county Gold Status in the national SolSmart program. Solar power developers consider SolSmart’s list of solar-friendly communities as they look for places to site new projects.
Since 2018 Charlottesville, Virginia-based Hexagon Energy has been negotiating land leases with property owners near North Liberty for a proposed Dumont Solar Farm. It would feed energy into the grid through AEP’s Dumont Substation, one of the nation’s largest.
The biggest change would be a requirement that any newly proposed solar farms obtain a special use permit, a public zoning process where neighbors are notified and hearings are held.
Opponents say they were blind-sided recently as the Dumont project began to pick up speed.
The county council could take a final vote on the ordinance July 9. Five of the council’s nine members spoke in support at the Plan Commission meeting Tuesday.
North Liberty project opponent Amanda Mitchell called the ordinance changes a “wonderful start.”
"In our community, if you look, it's more rural," Mitchell said. "We have Potato Creek Park right there and we have the wildlife corridors. Let's just say that I'm hoping that they'll still look at more of the issues and then maybe as a group we can address those."
Council members Amy Drake and Randy Figg have asked Area Plan to place a moratorium on any new solar farm requests but council member Dan Schaetzle said a moratorium doesn't have enough support to pass the council. Instead, Schaetzle said the council needs the power to evaluate each solar project individually.
