The Boone County Planning office is in the county office building at 116 W. Washington St., Suite 101, Lebanon. Elkins can be reached by calling 765-482-3821. A copy of the county’s comprehensive plan is available in the office and to download here.
Boone County Commissioners may put a moratorium on solar parks and wind farms.

Two energy companies have recently discussed solar parks with Boone County Planning Director Stephen Elkins, he confirmed this week. None have inquired about a wind farm in recent months.

Hexagon Energy, headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., is considering a solar park in western Boone County. The park would be roughly near Granville Wells Elementary School, which is situated at Ind. 75 at County Road 500 South, north of Jamestown. Advance lies to the school’s north.

Cropland and rural residences surround Granville Wells as far as the eye can see in any direction.

And NextEra Energy has renewed its interest in building a solar park in the Zionsville area after a unanimous rejection in 2021.

The Boone County Area Plan Commission rejected NextEra’s application for a 1,200-acre solar park spread over Marion and Union townships.

“In our comprehensive plan, it says that area is to stay in traditional agricultural production,” said Alan Wilhoite, a farmer and the plan commission president at the time. “Solar energy wouldn’t be traditional, by any means.”

But the Indiana Economic Development Corp. has since announced it will build a hightech, next-tech research and development district, called LEAP Lebanon, on as many as 10,000 acres. That land was largely agricultural with farmhouses and rural homes sprinkled throughout.

The state asked Lebanon to annex thousands of acres, effectively removing that land from county government’s control and placing it under the city’s authority.

The city’s previous comprehensive plan did not take such growth into account. So Lebanon leaders hired a firm to develop a planned unit development district for LEAP Lebanon to enforce local land use requirements and protect property owners.

County leaders also hired a firm to create an overlay district that regulates growth along corridors through, and protects, agricultural land and rural residences. Landowner input played a large role in the overlay district’s development.

Those involved “resoundingly and repeatedly emphasizing the desire to retain as much rural character and agricultural land as possible,” Plan Commission President John Merson told commissioners on Monday.

The same firm is also redrafting the county’s comprehensive plan that was last revised about 20 years ago and did not anticipate largescale commercial growth into unincorporated areas of the county.

Merson asked commissioners to place a two–year moratorium on large-scale solar parks and wind farms until the plan’s completion. The revision will take into account residents’ wishes regarding solar and wind energy and ensure uniformity in the way the commission deals with solar and wind requests, Merson said.

A majority of the plan commission members endorse the moratorium, Merson said. The entire commission also includes Tad Braner, Kasey Copeland, Boone County Surveyor Carol Cunningham, Dan Fry, Jay Schaumberg, and Dustin Plunkett, with attorney Robert Clutter of Lebanon as council.

Commissioners took the request under advisement.

The possibility of a solar farm near Wells spurred formation of a grassroots, private Facebook group, the Boone County – Jackson Jefferson Citizens Opposed to Solar Development. It has nearly 800 members, although some of those members are in favor of such development and joined the group for the discussion.
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