MOUNT VERNON — One by one, 11 trustees made their way to the microphone and reaffirmed their constituents still oppose solar in their Knox County township.
The townships previously sent a resolution to the Board of County Commissioners asking to be an exclusionary township for solar.
At a county commissioners’ public hearing on Thursday night, around 102 residents listened as the trustees said their positions remained the same.
Additionally, Trustee Donna Hochstetler said Clinton Township passed a resolution on Tuesday to exclude solar in the township.
Middlebury Township sent written communication to commissioners reaffirming its opposition.
Harrison, Jackson, Morgan, Pleasant, and Union townships previously sent in exclusionary resolutions, but none attended Thursday’s hearing.
Butler, College, Middlebury, and Wayne townships did not submit resolutions.
Butler Township did not attend the hearing. College and Middlebury were present but had no comment.
Trustee Luke Cantor said an activist group presented the exclusionary zone resolution to Wayne Township.
“As township trustees, we feel that’s not something we should be signing. We did not have public participation at our meetings asking us to sign it,” he said.
“Above all, in 2019, we rewrote our zoning manual entirely and we do have a resolution in there that deals with wind and solar that we feel is covering us very well to protect our community.”
The commissioners’ board banned wind farms in 2022, but allowed solar farms on a case-by-case basis.
However, the board has two new commissioners, Drenda Keesee and Barry Lester. Both campaigned against solar, and the board is revisiting its stance.
Commissioner Bill Pursel said the board plans to pass a resolution at its Feb. 27 meeting.
Community input
After the trustees commented, it was the township residents’ turn. Nine opposed utility solar development in the county, while three supported it.
“My farm ground is too valuable to me as farm land that I cannot afford to allow it to be used for something like this,” Miller Township farmer Darrel McFadden said.
Brian Cales lives in Monroe Township and owns land in Apple Valley. He travels the country and said he does not see farms near solar fields.
“There’s no cattle near fields, no sheep, no goats, no nothing. The ground is bare. It’s about as brown as the dirt outside,” he said.
Other residents noted inefficient use of farmland, the number of signatures collected opposing solar in previous hearings, and an inadequate environment for sustainable solar as reasons to ban solar.
Jane Patrick, Bruce Kiracofe, and Kathy Gambill oppose a countywide solar ban and advocate for property rights.
“I see a ban as an extreme level of government. Solar can be done right, and farmland can be preserved when we demand certain conditions,” Patrick said.
Gambill noted the tax benefits and benefits to the farmer and acknowledged that “you do need to keep your eye on it and make sure it’s done right.”
Personal agendas
Wayne Township Trustee and farmer Jim Braddock has no opinion on solar, but he does have an opinion on property rights and personal agendas.
“There’s been a lot of untruth spoken, and there’s been a lot of scare tactics used by this group,” he said. “They don’t want to look at solar panels out the kitchen window.
“I’m not sure it’s their business what I do with my property outside the window.”
He said he prefers 50 acres of solar panels to 200 houses on 50 acres beside him.
“As a trustee, infrastructure in the townships can’t take that,” he said.
Braddock said personal agendas on a board scare him.
“Nothing personal with you two, but you ran on no solar. That’s a personal agenda. I don’t think it represents the whole county,” he told Commissioners Keesee and Lester.
“I think the best way to handle this is put it on the ballot and let the people speak, because in my 30-plus years as a trustee, you don’t hear from happy people, you hear from the unhappy people.”
Villages and municipalities
Gambier resident Joan Slonczewski said solar panels add to her barn’s aesthetic and property values.
“I feel that farmers in this county have a hard time making a living, and if farmers can put some industrial solar on part of their land and keep farming the rest of it instead of selling to developers, that’s a good thing in terms of the grid,” she said.
Janet Chandler of Mount Vernon pointed to the revenue the county will lose by banning solar, and questioned whether the commissioners have talked with school boards.
College Township resident Jerry Kelly asked the commissioners to abandon efforts to restrict solar in the county and instead explore how solar power can be deployed with the least possible negative impacts and the most positive effects for everyone.
Speaking as a citizen, not a trustee, Pike resident Brayden Freeman asked, “Why are they choosing a place that’s green country farmland where you can produce something instead of the massive deserts?”
Noting he has never heard a good argument for solar other than money or environmental damage theories, Freeman asked the commissioners to consider “what seems to be the overwhelming opinion of our constituents, your constituents and my constituents.”
Others cited the inability of solar power to produce enough electricity without relying on carbon-based fuels, the illogic of switching from valuable farmland to unreliable solar, and the fact that electricity does not necessarily stay in the county.
Click here to watch a video of the event.
