Gaston-area solar farm opponents gather at Wes-Del to learn more, discuss game plan

GASTON, Ind. — More than 100 residents of Washington Township and the surrounding area where solar farms are in planning stages went to Wes-Del High School Saturday morning to consider how to fight the arrival of acres of solar panels across local farm fields.

They heard that it won't be easy to stop a push for solar farms in the Delaware County countryside and throughout rural Indiana that is coming from some in the Statehouse.

"We've seen a move in the (Indiana) Senate to remove solar from local control," said attorney Jason Kuchmay of Fort Wayne. "There are a lot of people who want to see solar and a lot of it."

Kuchmay has been representing property owners in matters related to solar projects throughout the state for a number of years. He refrained from offering odds on being able to stop the planned Meadow Forge project north of Gaston, saying county officials had already passed legislation allowing solar farms to be placed on designated farmland.

More: Solar vs. grain: Farm feud in Washington Township roils community, ends friendships

Seventeen landowners in the area between Gaston and Matthews have signed leases with the global energy company Invenergy to offer up at least hundreds, possibly thousands of acres, to the company to develop the farm.

As long as a project meets the standards in the zoning ordinance, Kuchmay said, the solar company involved is entitled to move ahead with the project. As solar firms were expressing an interest in Delaware County farmland, a solar zoning ordinance was created and passed last year by county commissioners. A resolution designating the area of Meadow Forge an economic revitalization area and granting a 10-year tax abatement for the project was passed by county council in October.

Kuchmay told the audience that it was odd that tax abatement was approved before Invenergy ever applied to actually build any part of the solar farm, saying there wasn't anything to abate yet.

The attorney said that commissioners have shown a willingness to change the solar ordinance. Amendments, including increasing setbacks of the solar panels to 100 feet and assuring access to wooded areas, were already approved by commissioner and will be considered at a Feb. 3 Metropolitan Plan Commission meeting set for 6 p.m. in the Delaware County Justice Center auditorium rather than the county building due to the expectation of a larger-than-usual crowd.

Large crowds might also be appearing at commissioner and county council meetings Monday and Tuesday.

Kuchmay told the people assembled Saturday that it was important that they make their voices heard and lobby local government officials, as the solar companies do.

"Get as many as possible to the county council meeting," the attorney told the crowd.

The Delaware County commissioners meet at 9 a.m. Monday on the third floor of the county building. Delaware County Council meets in the same place at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

"We feel like we are not being represented at all," local farmer Reese Collins said from the lectern.

Kuchmay said that ideally the solar zoning ordinance would be changed to make solar farms a land use requiring a variance rather than simply a permitted use. A variance would require hearings and notification of nearby property owners of the proposed use of the land.

Those at the meeting said it was the lack of notice and the feeling the issue was being hidden from them until after the solar farm seemed beyond stopping that has created so much animosity.

Earlier: Meadow Forge solar farm hit with opposition from residents and Wes-Del Schools

Harold King told the audience from the stage in the auditorium that if those supporting the farm had been more open the community could have talked the matter through and many wouldn't be so upset.

"It may be legal," King said. "But it's not right."

More solar projects

Another solar farm, smaller than Meadow Forge, is being planned by a different company south of Albany along Ind. 67.

Hawthorn Solar, LLC, a subsidiary of National Renewable Energy Corp. based in Charlotte, N.C., has plans calling for the installation of $88 million worth of equipment on roughly 355 acres bisected by the highway in the vicinity of Muncie Dragway.

The application by Hawthorn calls for the development of a 75-megawatt facility. After $3 million in tax abatement, that project is expected to produce $19 million in new tax revenue to Delaware County. Construction was expected to start this year.

More: Solar field project at central Muncie brownfield moves ahead with city council approval

In Randolph County near Modoc, EDP Renewables North America recently brought its 200-megawatt Riverstart Solar Park online.

The company said the development is the largest solar array by capacity in the state and generates enough power to meet the average consumption of more than 36,000 Indiana homes annually. Riverstart represents a capital investment of about $180 million.

Meadow Forge as planned is not quite as large but is comparable. The project would generate 150 megawatts of power, according to Invenergy, enough to satisfy the electrical needs of 32,700 homes. Plans call for construction to start in the middle of 2023 with the solar farm operational by the middle of 2024.

During construction, the Meadow Forge project is expected to produce 150 jobs, with two local employees needed after construction after completion.

Kuchmay said that solar companies often don't take into account the agriculture jobs that are lost when land moves from producing grain and farm products to producing electricity.

After tax abatement on an estimated $155 million in equipment, Meadow Forge would be expected to deliver $32 million to the county over its life. Additionally, Invenergy would pay Delaware County government $2 million in an "economic development agreement" over 10 years.

More: Delaware County to reap up to $2 million from solar project on top of developer's tax bill

Currently, the county solar zoning ordinance provides for decommissioning the solar fields so at their end of their life they can be farmed again or put to other use.

Kutchmay reminded opponents that their interest in what happens with the land will likely outlast that of the solar companies.

"It's your county," Kuchmay told project opponents. "It's your landscape and it's going to be that longer than 30 years, which is the average length of these projects."

David Penticuff is the local government reporter at the Star Press. Contact him at dpenticuff@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Washington Township solar farm opponents gather to discuss game plan