Union County residents who showed up for the commissioners’ vote to restrict solar projects last week were surprised to find out it is postponed.
The commissioners voted to table the decision at the regular meeting on Wednesday after finding out earlier that not all notifications were sent out to the necessary parties in time.
Some residents expressed frustration at the delay.
Resident Shelley Beeney said the communication from the county could’ve been faster and clearer.
“My township didn’t know. None of them,” she said. “That communication process and the lead time is pretty important.”
Other residents agreed, saying the delay is frustrating especially in light of the last-minute change.
Commissioner Steve Robinson said he understands the frustration but said ultimately, this is a good thing.
“We learned Monday that there were some entities – there were some folks that needed to have notification that didn’t get notified. We made those notifications yesterday,” he said. “So, in order for this all to work out legally, we need to table this until the 29th of November. In my mind, it’s probably a good thing that this happened because had this gotten passed without doing all the proper things in the process, at some point down the line, somebody could’ve challenged it and thrown it out.”
He apologized for the change and ultimately the delay, which will postpone the board’s vote on declaring unincorporated areas of the county as restricted areas to large solar and wind projects.
He said the issue was an “oversight” by the board.
Other residents asked the board how this happened and how it will be avoided in the future. Robinson said it shouldn’t happen and was a unique situation, given the specific requirements for notification of this topic.
“In my mind, it’s all of us. I don’t think it’s any one person. We’re all in this together. Maybe I should’ve done my due diligence a little farther to be sure, but I didn’t and it got missed,” he said. “I’m sorry it happened and like I said, I’m glad we caught it before we passed this.”
Legislation was first introduced in 2021 to designate the restricted areas and then pushed for a vote in early 2022 at which point it was tabled since the measure was not seconded to move forward.
Since then, a variety of requested restrictions have come from the resident and township levels.
In June of 2022, the commissioners approved a restriction request from eight townships that would essentially guarantee an automatic “no” for any future solar companies looking to bring a facility generating 50 megawatts or more of power into Allen, Claibourne, Darby, Jackson, Leesburg, Liberty, Taylor and Washington townships.
At least four projects were proposed in the county including the Union, Cadence, Samsung-Richwood and Lightsource BP solar projects. Each are in various stages of development from construction to application.
Commissioners have expressed previously the vote would likely approve the restriction and this was supported by many of the residents at the meeting.
Resident Keith Engle said he encouraged the commissioners to vote “no” in November when the decision comes back around.
He said he recognizes the board’s concern about infringing on property owner rights but said that neither the federal nor the state constitutions clearly define those terms.
“I went through the U.S. Constitution, I went through the state Constitution. I don’t find any statements that specifically imply blanket property rights,” he said. “Do I agree that a person should be able to freely use the land they own as they choose? Absolutely, with one caveat: your freedoms and rights to use your land should never harm or impact the rights of others.”
Engle said zoning requirements regulate the use of land, which is why you don’t see residential properties next to factories.
The vote will be Nov. 29 at 8:30 a.m. in the commissioners’ hearing room.