Etna Township asks Licking County Commissioners to ban large solar developments

The Etna Township Trustees took a step toward excluding large solar farm developments from coming into their township.

Etna Township Trustees Gary Burkholder and Mark Evans voted Tuesday to ask the Licking County Commissioners to prohibit utility-scale solar farms within the township. Trustee Rozland McKee voted against the request.

The matter is now turned over to the Licking County Commissioners. Etna doesn't have the authority to prohibit solar farms on its own. But through a state law passed in 2021, county commissioners have the authority to bar or limit development of wind farms that produce more than 5 megawatts and solar farms that produce more than 50 megawatts. Smaller solar fields can be subjected to local zoning.

The board took up this issue over the summer and discussed it during several meetings before a resolution failed, 1-2, on Aug. 15. Evans cast the lone vote in favor, and McKee and then-Trustee Jeff Johnson voted against.

Evans said he believes prohibiting utility-scale solar farms is good for the area. He said the township already prohibited community-scale solar farms, which are between 5-50 megawatts, when it updated its zoning code in December. Evans said it makes no sense to ban those and not the more extensive utility-scale solar arrays.

McKee said previously that she didn't support prohibiting solar because she didn't have enough information about how it would affect local farmers. She said in an interview after the Jan. 16 meeting that she still felt that. With solar technology continuing to evolve and improve, she didn't want the township to make a hasty decision that could be considered government overreach.

"Right now, I don't think it's the time for me to make that decision," she said.

Resident Matthew Rausenberg said during the meeting that prohibiting solar farms could negatively affect farmers by limiting the options they have when they no longer want to farm.

"To limit them, saying they can't have housing developments, they can't have warehouses, they can't have solar, they can't have marijuana farms, what are you leaving these farmers to do?" he said. "We need to also advocate for the farmers that built this township and allow them some flexibility. Solar is not the worst thing that can go in."

In an interview after the meeting, Burkholder said some farmers do want to develop their land, but others are interested in preserving farmland.

"I think by eliminating that or making us an exclusionary zone, (that) doesn't necessarily deny a property owner from using their property in some other fashion," he said.

As a homeowner, Evans said he can't have an accessory dwelling in his yard and rent it out because of the zoning restrictions in place. Prohibiting utility-scale solar is the same concept, he said, adding the township needs to recruit economic development that can benefit both farmers and the greater community.

"I do think we could do better, and I think we are going to do better in supporting those farmers that do want to sell; getting good development for them, so they get as much for their land as possible, and the community benefits with housing, with jobs," he said.

Statewide, solar farm construction is ramping up, with about 50 such projects in development or recently completed.

The Ohio Power Siting Board have approved two large-scale solar projects in Licking County: a 108-megawatt solar field on 512 acres of Harrison Township farmland, which is on hold and not under construction, and another 350-megawatt solar project on 1,880 acres scattered throughout a 2,630-acre area in Hartford and Bennington townships that is also on hold pending a court appeal.

Commissioner Tim Bubb previously told The Advocate the commissioners would welcome and consider a request to proactively create an exclusionary zone if the township proposed one.

Etna isn't the first township to request a ban on solar farms. Liberty Township made the same request to the commissioners this fall, with residents and township trustees saying the solar panel developments ruin the scenic landscape, take away farmland, decrease property values and are contrary to what residents want in their township.

The commissioners approved Liberty's request in a unanimous vote Nov. 16, according to documents available on the county's website.

mdevito@gannett.com

740-607-2175

Twitter: @MariaDeVito13

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Etna Township asks Licking County to ban large solar developments