Future development of a solar farm in Knox County was the topic of discussion at the March meeting of the Area Plan Commission, held Tuesday evening in the commissioners' room on the ground floor of the courthouse.
Kent Utt, former president of the Knox County Development Corp. who is now working with a company looking to build a solar farm in Harrison Township, asked commission members for some type of “surety” that the company's plan for the project, once submitted, could be considered and approved as quickly as possible.
Currently, the county zoning ordinance doesn't specifically mention solar farms, something executive director Colt Michaels has been working with the members to change.
But that's part of an overall review and updating of the ordinance, something that will take time — a lot of time, according to county surveyor Dick Vermillion, who is chairman of the plan commission and has been dealing with county land use issues for decades.
Vermillion speculated an updated ordinance wouldn't go into effect until the summer of 2021, if even by then.
Utt said the company hopes to be have the field under construction by then.
“Is there some other way of speeding this up?” he asked.
Michaels said the commission could consider the company's application as a “development of broad significance,” a sort of catch-all for large projects like the proposed 1,200-acre solar farm that aren't specifically dealt with now in the zoning ordinance.
Or the commission could adopt a “stand-alone ordinance” setting out requirements specific to this particular project, Vermillion said.
Attorney Jill Doggett with HartBell LLC, 513 Main St., said state law didn't say the plan commission couldn't consider a stand-alone ordinance — but neither did it say it could.
“So I think you could do that and be okay,” she said.
But Doggett cautioned it would set a precedent that might not be so beneficial in the future.
“There may be others who come along who will want the same consideration,” she said. “That's something to consider as well.”
Could such an ordinance be changed after it was adopted, Utt asked.
“In adopting a new comprehensive zoning ordinance, if those rules were different from the stand-alone ordinance, would that mean there would have to be changes to the project plan after construction had started?” he asked.
No, Vermillion answered, “you'd be 'grandfathered' in.”
Could the stand-alone ordinance later be rolled into the comprehensive plan, new plan commission member Marc McNeece asked.
“Yes,” Michael said. “I think the goal would be, if that's what the board wants to do, is write the stand-alone ordinance with the intention that it would become part of the comprehensive ordinance.”
Which, Vermillion added, is why it would take longer than considering the solar farm as a development of broad significance.
Longtime plan commission member Steve Volling thought the county commissioners should be dealing with this matter first, and if they approved, then pass it along to the APC for its recommendation.
“I think they should have a say first,” he said. “I think it should start with them.”
Ultimately, Vermillion said, the plan commission would have to make a recommendation.
“It's going to end up with us one way or the other,” he said.
Utt said the project called for building a 150-megawatt solar field, a $100-$150 million investment in the county, and that the company, which he declined to name, was looking at other locations as well as Knox County, including neighboring Pike County.
He said the company was “serious” about the project and had already applied to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator for access to the electric grid for the energy the field would produce.
“They're going to do this project, whether it's in Knox County or Pike County or Illinois, they're going to do this,” Utt said. “What they're looking for is how quickly [the zoning changes] could be approved once they submit their plan to you.”
Vermillion said considering the application as a development of broad significance could be done “next month.”
“If we want to rush through it, we could do it that way,” he said. “They could just submit a plan, we'd hold a public meeting and make a recommendation like we would anything else.”
Vermillion also said he was open to a stand-alone ordinance that later could be rolled into the revised county zoning ordinance.
“But either way the plan commission needs to do its job and review whatever comes before us,” he said.
Volling admitted he wasn't comfortable with being asked to “rush something through” for approval without knowing more about the project, especially who was involved.
“I think we need to do our due diligence, no matter who it is and what they want,” he said.
Utt reiterated that it was a “competitive project” and that he didn't want to see the county miss out on a “$150 million capital investment.”
“I think [company officials] want some assurance, now, that when they come before you with a plan there would be a relatively quick turnaround,” he said. “They're serious about doing this and want to hit the ground running when the time comes.”
Bruce Pepmeier, a member of the county's Board of Zoning Appeals, warned against the commission taking a “knee-jerk reaction” to the request for expediency.
“You already have a mechanism in place now for handling this,” he said. “I think you need to go with what you have.”
Part of the problem, commission members agreed, was in not having any experience with such a project, with such matters as sufficient setbacks from adjoining properties.
Utt had submitted boilerplate recommendations provided by the company, but commission members weren't interested in accepting those.
“I don't like that idea,” commission member Rob Mullins said. “That might be what they want, but is it what we want?”
Which begged the question, what requirements did the commission want to include?
Michaels said he could contact those counties that already had zoning requirements in place for solar farms, and the board could go over those at next month's meeting.
But that left Utt in something of a pickle.
“What are you going to report back to your people?” Mullins asked him.
“I don't really know,” Utt said. “I'm not sure where we are here.”
He said at the very least what he needed was to be able to communicate back to company officials that the Area Plan Commission was at least open to working with them on locating a solar farm in Harrison Township.
“At least that I can tell them there is a consensus among the members here to look at this,” Utt said.
“Sure,” said commission member Tony Mahan. “We don't want them to think we have our heels dug in, that we're not going to consider anything they bring to us.”
Vermillion advised Utt to tell company officials the commission was “definitely” interested in working with them.
“Because we are.”
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