WARREN — The Warren town council voted Monday evening before a room of more than 25 people to place a moratorium on solar farms after its public hearing.

The town’s Ordinance 2024-7 is the same as and its acceptance is based on the recommendation of the Warren Plan Commission.

Town Council Member Jeremy Rufener first made a motion to table the ordinance, because he thought there should be more discussion on the matter.

The council ultimately voted to suspend the rules and it was approved on first, second and final readings.

Huntington County Director of Community Development, Kim Hostetler, was present at the meeting for questions on the ordinance, as well as the Huntington County unified Zoning ordinance.

Rufener asked what the town could tell businesses that wanted to locate in Warren for the purposes of solar.

“Right now, we would have to tell them ‘No.’,” she said.

Warren Plan Commissioner, Jeff Sauder said he applauds the Huntington County Commission for the moratorium, because mistakes were made in the original ordinance, and now they need to listen to different sides of the issue to solve it.

“I don’t think anyone in this town has a problem with a company putting up a solar field to power their factory,” Sauder said. He added that people are concerned with large commercial ones taking up farmland. He then named a number of agriculture related businesses in the countywide area, which would need to address the situation, too.

For example, one suggestion from last month’s plan commission meeting was to put a five percent cap on the number of acres of farmland used for solar. He said that would require a feasibility study for those businesses losing five percent of their business, as well as the county losing five percent of its farmland.

The Huntington County Commissioners are requiring a committee made up of two individuals for solar and two against it, and a neutral member, Sauder explained. After the meeting, Sauder told WANE TV in an interview that one of the next steps for the county is to have the county drainage board review the Huntington County Zoning Ordinance.

Warren Clerk-Treasurer Marilyn Morrison later explained to the council that energy costs will emerge in a few years for the town, because it owns its own electric utility. Its provider has purchased electricity from solar production.

Morrison explained that the Warren moratorium affects property within town limits. The Indiana state legislature is also expected to address energy legislation this year, Morrison added.

Indiana State Sen. Andy Zay (R-Huntington) commented about energy legislation and challenges in Indiana in a phone conversation Tuesday.

“We need to look forward and approving site of service, and decisions need to be made at the local level,” he said, citing the recent study released by Indiana’s Department of Agriculture and the Indiana Farm Bureau. Over 12 years, 2010-2012, Indiana has lost just under 350,000 acres of farmland mostly to residential use around city and suburban areas, but farm harvests during that time simultaneously increased.

Zay added that electrical demands outweigh the energy supply.

“We need gigawatts not megawatts, and the time frames we are going to do that are huge challenges we have moving forward,” Zay said. He noted coal, gas and nuclear are included because solar or wind energy can’t bridge the gap Indiana needs.

“We’ve got some great strides,” he said. “On a day like today, rain, there’s not much energy from solar and we’ve got to have energy 24/7.”
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