Belleville council votes on solar farm at cemetery, but ‘chainsaws don’t start tomorrow’

Belleville City Council has approved a special-use permit for a community solar farm on Mount Hope Cemetery land.

The vote doesn’t mean the farm will be built, but it signals to zoning officials that aldermen would be open to the idea of buying the 132-acre property in a foreclosure sale; clearing trees from 25 acres of a wooded section in back; leasing the land to a solar vendor; and collecting $75,000 to $80,000 a year in rent.

Under the potential plan, the money would be used to offset the $100,000 a year the city’s Public Works Department is spending each year to mow and trim and pick up trash at Mount Hope.

“If we decide to bid on this, and we’re the successful bidder, (a solar farm would give) us an option, a way to try to mitigate some of the costs to the taxpayers in taking over this cemetery,” Ward 6 Alderman Chris Rothweiler said.

Aldermen voted 14 to 1 at their Tuesday night meeting to approve a special-use permit for construction and operation of a solar farm in an area now zoned for two-family residential use.

Ward 2 Alderwoman Jamie Eros was absent. Ward 1 Alderwoman Lillian Schneider voted “no.”

“It’s a cemetery,” she said after the meeting. “It doesn’t need solar panels. It needs peace and quiet. There shouldn’t be any business. There’s a creek down there (at the bottom of a ravine). Leave that for the animals.”

Schneider was essentially siding with eight residents who spoke against the solar farm during a public-participation period.

Several had voiced opposition at a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting in December. Their main argument is that 25 acres of solar panels would destroy a beautiful natural area with plentiful wildlife.

“This business of cutting down 25 acres of timber that’s habitat for all kinds of wildlife to build a solar farm, to me, is totally ridiculous when all I’ve heard for the last 10 years is green space and the environment,” said resident Stewart Lannert.

Resident Edward Ulkus said he went to look at the Mount Hope site recently and found it “laughable” that a city official had told the Zoning Board that cemetery visitors wouldn’t be able to see the solar farm if it were surrounded by a buffer of trees.

Resident Lisa Griffith said she supports the idea of building solar farms to help the environment, but it’s also important to protect wetlands, forests and other natural resources.

Clay Bertelsman, who owns and leases property in the vicinity and operates a trucking company that has hauled solar-farm equipment, argued that flat, vacant land would be more suitable for the Belleville project than the steep terrain behind Mount Hope.

“It’s not rolling hills,” he said after the meeting.

Bertelsman revealed that he’s considering bidding on the cemetery land. His real-estate agent, Gerry Davidson, had told the Zoning Board about an interested client in December but didn’t name him.

Bertelsman said he only recently found out about the foreclosure sale, which is expected to be held this spring as part of a St. Clair County Circuit Court case, so it’s too early to reveal specifics of his plan for the property.

“Let’s just say it’s going to be basically how it is right now,” he said. “There would be no change in the short term.”

One resident, Rick Brown, spoke in favor of building a solar farm at Mount Hope, saying the lease revenue would provide relief to Belleville taxpayers who are paying too much.

The city already owns and operates Walnut Hill Cemetery.

Ward 3 Alderman Kent Randle said he wishes there was some way for the city to get reimbursed for the more than $1 million it has spent to maintain Mount Hope all these years without owning it.

Ward 7 Alderman Phil Elmore assured solar-farm opponents that a “yes” vote by the City Council on Tuesday night will allow the process to continue but doesn’t represent a final decision.

“The chainsaws don’t start tomorrow,” he said.

More than 26,800 people are buried at Mount Hope, which dates back to the late 1800s, according to the St. Clair County Genealogical Society. The most recent owner abandoned it in the mid-2000s while being accused of scamming people on prepaid funeral arrangements.

A county judge appointed a receiver, who was later replaced by an attorney with the Illinois comptroller’s office. Problems with tall grass, weeds and trash prompted Public Works to take over maintenance.

Cliff Cross, director of economic development, planning and zoning, told City Council members that any buyer would have to show the state that he’s “qualified” to operate a cemetery; and any development, other than two-family residential, on the back acreage would need a zoning variance.

“Whether we get (the land) or not, it’s still protected,” Cross said.

Ward 4 Alderman Raffi Ovian asked if the city is planning to build an alternative-access road for trucks to haul solar panels in and out so as not to disrupt the cemetery, where he has family buried.

Cross told Ovian that special-use-permit approval would simply give city officials “reassurance” to continue exploring the project’s feasibility and that such design questions would be addressed by the Belleville Planning Commission at a later date with public input.

“All we’re trying to do is figure out if we can move from Point A to Point B,” Cross said. “If we can’t, we’re done.”

Ovian said road work and other improvements at Mount Hope might encourage more people to buy plots and arrange burials, resulting in more revenue. Cross told him the city will install walking paths and other “areas for reflection” if it buys the property.

The Zoning Board voted 5-0 at its Dec. 21 meeting to recommend that the full City Council approve the special-use permit for a solar farm at Mount Hope. Cross told members the plan is contingent on the project receiving up to $2 million in state incentives for installation.

The city is working with a Texas-based solar vendor known as Shine Development Partners, owned by Hover Energy, to apply for incentives through Illinois Shines, a state program implemented by the Illinois Power Agency.

Cross said he expects to find out this spring if the money would be available for the Mount Hope project.

Bertelsman said he has done hauling for a 27-acre solar farm being built on flat, vacant land in East St. Louis, where construction costs have topped $20 million, and he worries that Belleville could get stuck with a bill at Mount Hope. Cross categorically rejected that possibility.

“The city of Belleville taxpayers will not pay a dime for this project in terms of building a solar farm,” he said.

The lease would be for 25 years, Cross said, and the agreement would contain a provision requiring the vendor to remove the panels if it no longer wanted to operate a solar farm.