A Union County resident said the commissioners’ opposition to the Richwood Solar project is a “mistake.”
Though the board has made its opinion known at previous meetings, the commissioners approved a resolution Wednesday that made the position official.
Chuck Warner, a farmer and landowner looking to lease a portion of his property to Samsung, the company behind the project, said he thinks the decision to seek an attorney and oppose the project is the wrong decision.
“It’s change and we’ve got to change with the future,” he said. “I think you’re making a mistake. I do, I really do.”
Warner said the decision to oppose the project appeases a “small group” of residents but doesn’t take into account potential benefits for the whole county.
“We’re going to need electric for the people coming after us. We’re going to need it, Licking County is going to need it, it’s going to go into the grid. So we could get a big income from this right now,” Warner said. “But right now, you’ve got to think ahead, not behind and not cater to the emotions of a few people because they don’t want it.”
Estimates show the project could bring in tens of millions of dollars over the term of the 40-year lease. Warner said that money would help the county above and beyond the tax money the land currently generates, noting it currently brings in $59,000 a year in taxes.
“Where are you going to find 1,400 acres in this county that will generate that much income to the county?” Warner said.
He added that those opposed to the project push their concern over using prime farmland for solar rather than crops is a nonstarter. Ashley Beery, who was also in attendance and also plans to lease land to Samsung agreed.
She said the City of Marysville has annexed several hundred acres of land for the purposes of commercial and residential development and yet landowners in those deals are not criticized the way those dealing with solar companies are.
“If I have to sell my farm, who’s going to buy it? A developer. It’s not going to be farm ground no matter what,” she said. “You just annexed more land in to build more houses and you didn’t say, ‘what about this farm? How dare this farmer sell this land to a developer?’ So how are we any different?”
Commissioner Dave Burke said a main reason for his opposition to the project is the amount of solar already in the county.
Richwood Solar would be the third project in the county, following Acciona’s Union Solar project and Invenergy’s Cadence Solar project.
“I think we have a lot of solar in this county as it is. Both of these projects are large, mega solar projects. There’s at least three more coming down the pipeline – Richwood being one of them – that will consume a lot of resources in terms of land and agriculture and these types of planning and zoning and things people do in the townships and the counties,” Burke said. “But beyond that, we’ve heard from a large volume of residents that they don’t want this.”
He said that the revenue numbers can’t exactly be substantiated anyway as the project is still in the development phase.
“Some of that is subject to change. I mean these solar companies can reapply to the Department of Taxation and have their valuations changed on their assets and they frequently do that,” he said, referring to instances where companies have gotten the values lowered as the panels age.
Warner said that’s where the importance of a PILOT program comes in. The commissioners have approved two previous PILOTs, or payment in lieu of taxes agreements, which makes the value of the assets on the properties fixed rather than allowing it to change or depreciate over the term of the lease.
For entities such as school districts, the agreement makes revenue income much more consistent.
Burke and Commissioner Dave Lawrence both voted to approve the measure opposing Richwood Solar. Commissioner Steve Robinson abstained, as he will sit on the ad hoc board that will eventually vote on the project’s approval or denial.
The first public hearing on the project will be held in a few short weeks on June 25 at North Union High School at 5 p.m. Residents are encouraged to attend where they can be sworn in and offer testimony for or against the project.