In a quick three-minute special meeting Thursday afternoon the Porter County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to repeal and replace solar ordinance 20-11. That decision will not affect the ability of NextEra Energy Resources to proceed with the application it submitted to the county April 4.
Commissioners Vice President Barb Regnitz, R-Center, made a motion to repeal and replace the ordinance upon second reading, followed by a second from Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South. Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, joined in a vote to repeal and replace upon second reading.
There were concerns about weak points in the three-year-old ordinance that was hastily put together in an attempt to supersede a potentially less-stringent law from the state. That law never came to fruition and the county seeks to improve its requirements for solar arrays as multiple companies continue to show interest in the area.
A proposed solar array farm in Morgan Township south of Smoke Road already has several farmers committed to leasing their land for the project by NextEra Energy Resources. Dubbed Malden Solar, the project has garnered detractors, many of whom spoke at a commissioners meeting on the proposal that generated a standing-room-only crowd at the Porter County Expo Center in late February.
A plan commission subcommittee determined policies or more research were needed regarding panel construction, environmental impacts, decommissioning, setbacks, landscaping, noise levels, labor, density, site location and soil integrity.
Blaney asked if the subcommittee tasked with researching the ordinance had a proposed timeline for its replacement. Regnitz, who serves on the plan commission and the solar subcommittee, said the goal of the group is to have a draft ready for the plan commission’s review at its regular August meeting.
If revisions are requested by the plan commission, Regnitz said the group would have them ready at the regular September meeting and hopes to have a final recommendation ready for a first reading before the plan commission at its regular October meeting.
“How does that affect any solar company at this point thinking about developing a solar farm here?” Biggs asked Porter County Attorney Scott McClure, who cowrote the original ordinance with Porter County Department of Development and Storm Water Management Director Bob Thompson.
Malden Solar, LLC is the project name on the development plan that applied under the just-repealed ordinance. It’s a 1,200-acre development slated for the area south of 200 West, east of Smoke Road, west of Indiana 49, and north of 450 South. Four property owners have entered into leases for the project.
“That’s a complicated question,” he replied. “We have a solar company who has submitted their application. That application was submitted before this ordinance was repealed, so therefore in my opinion, the repealing of that ordinance today does not directly affect the NextEra application.
“The repealing and eventual revision still will be a complicated question depending on the set of facts that will be presented at that time,” McClure added, regarding any future applicants.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.