(Editor’s note: The following letters are submitted as letters to the editor, but written to the Union County Commissioners.)
Dear Editor,
I do not write letters to my government officials, but I do remember when it comes election time, which ones have not acted in what I believe is our best interest. You, as commissioners, have very important decisions to make and I’m sure you don’t take that responsibility lightly.
I know you have heard from land owners about our property rights and I agree wholeheartedly. But at what point do our rights supersede the rights of our property owners. Can you damage the value of your neighbors property? Can you devalue their property that they have worked and invested in? What I have witnessed is that the majority of property owners that have leased their ground for a solar farms will not live with them surrounding their homes.
You three commissioners hold a great deal of power in your hands to make decisions on this. Will any of you have solar panels surrounding your homes?
Allow me to tell you about my home. I was born and raised in this house. I am 61 years old and I have lived in this house all but 13 years of this life. I have been blessed with eight grandchildren, five under the age of 12. My grandchildren and I have a wonderful habit of riding on our Kawasaki Mule through the woods, waterways and fields, checking on our crops and measuring the growing corn against the children. I look out upon the land that my father, my brothers, my husband, my sons and I had hoped my grandchildren would continue to farm and I now picture solar panels in the place of rows of corn and soybeans. Yes, we were able to buy my father and mother’s house. We didn’t have the money to buy the ground, but we thought we were blessed with a good landowner and had a wonderful 30 years in partnership.
Can you imagine the horror to find out the possibility of a solar farm surrounding, literally surrounding, my houses and my wonderful neighbors across the road? We would be surrounded by 700 acres of solar panels.
I am asking you please do what’s right. Let’s put some brakes on and use HB52 to protect our county. You do not know what the exact effects will be from these two solar farms in construction. The amount of solar this country will need will always be there. We are not going to lose out if we wait and plan carefully and selectively where and how to place solar farms.
LuAnne Davis
Miller Road
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Dear Editor:
I am only one citizen, that has lived in Union County my whole life (61 years). I am a farmer and a landowner. I grew up on the farm, my sons farm, and I have grandchildren that want to farm.
I am not good at writing letters and putting my thoughts on paper, but I am begging you to get this right. It seems that this solar farm thing is only affecting the north half of our county. I am sure there are power grids everywhere that could benefit from the power companies in our area.
If this continues, as I see it today, the northern half of the Union County could be nothing more than a blanket of solar farms. My community that I have been a part of for 61 years will change, our values will decline and people will leave the same way as they left the city and moved out here looking for a safer and quieter life.
I’m not saying no solar but if this keeps going as planned and fails, there could be thousands of acres and homes that no longer contribute to our tax base. Government does not make promises that they always keep.
Again, I am begging you to get up here and look at our community and have some real talks of the effect of these projects. Citizens of Union County please wake up get involved. Your children and grandchildren may want to live here and raise their families here. Union County Ohio a great place to live and raise a family. Let’s make sure we can keep it that way.
Union County let’s come together, slow down and get this right for everyone. Commissioners, it’s not just about the money.
Carl Davis
Miller Road