Neighbors learn more about solar project planned for former Muncie GM plant site

MUNCIE, Ind. — Residents near an empty toxic waste site heard more Wednesday about the Ridenour administration's plan to turn the land into a field of solar panels that would deliver an estimated $500,000 annually in revenue to the city.

After the meeting, neighbors seemed more satisfied with the plan that would provide a use for the idled property where a General Motors transmission factory stood for most of the 20th Century.

Neil Kring, a pastor in the Thomas Park/Avondale Neighborhood, had appeared at the city council meeting earlier this month and told city officials the people in the area did not understand the project and that he and others were seeking "justice for the neighborhood," which is an area of low income and investment.

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"We are all here because we want good things for our community," Kring said after the developers and city officials spoke at Wednesday's gathering.

He suggested the city place a basketball court at the Ross Community Center community building for youth in the area and create a "learning cohort" of neighborhood leaders that would be be aware of environmental challenges and solutions and would work within their neighborhoods to improve quality of life.

Kring praised Wednesday's event, which was held in the sanctuary of Avondale United Methodist Church after originally being planned for the Ross Center, he noted the lack of rancor.

"Civil discourse right here," he said "and by Shedtown, too."

Solar field details

Mayor Dan Ridenour and several city council members were in the audience that heard developers of the project for the city recount plans for the solar array.

Greg Martz, managing partner in GM Development of Springport, not affiliated with General Motors, explained that the solar field would be a project that GM Development creates while the city would receive payment from AEP electric utility for the power produced.

Cost of the project to the city would be $11.7 million.to be paid in increments that are designed to be lower than the cash flow amounts the city would gain from the utility.

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Ryan Stout, solar developer with Performance Services, based in Indianapolis, also spoke to the neighborhood residents about the solar panels themselves, saying that the devices will sit on top of the concrete and can be moved at any time as needed.

Stout said the project involving a brownfield with limited other uses due to contamination would attract national recognition and provide a platform for the community.

He also suggested members of the community think about what they might want to name the solar array.

At the start of his presentation, Stout said this project has nothing to do with an affair in south Texas involving Performance Services and that he has no personal knowledge of those matters. The FBI has been investigating allegations of bribery in Hidalgo County, Texas that have been tied to energy related to public contracts involving Performance Services, according to Progress Times, a local newspaper there.

Performance Services also is being sued by the Agua, Texas Special Utility District, claiming the company defrauded the utility district. The district is requesting more than $1 million in damages. The Indiana company convinced the district, the lawsuit says, to install new water meters and replace old light bulbs with LEDs. Performance Services promised $11.6 million in an “energy savings performance contract” that would pay for itself through higher water bills and lower energy costs, according to the newspaper. The utility district said the promised savings never appeared.

Letting contaminated ground have time to 'heal itself'

Muncie City Council member Ro Selvy addressed the residents and said she had spoken with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, which informed her that $5.7 million had been set aside for cleanup work at the site.

According to a document from RACER Trust, which was created in 2011 by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to clean up and position for redevelopment properties owned by the General Motors before its 2009 bankruptcy, money was set aside for the cleanup.

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Officials told the neighborhood group that IDEM has told them the best best thing to do is let the land, which contains PCPs, lead and arsenic, "heal itself." The land cannot be used be used in its current state for any occupied buildings or parks. Wells are being monitored at the site and over time the level of toxicity will decline.

Ridenour said that RACER was following IDEM's lead, and the plan to clean up the land might cost millions of dollars but it would be a decades-long plan.

A number of people from outside the neighborhood spoke in favor of developing the solar field.

Barry Banks, founder and director emeritus of the Red-Tail Land Conservancy, told the neighbors in the sanctuary that the project would be good for the community and would allow Muncie to become "bigger" in a special way.

Ridenour spoke and told the group that in the end the solar project was virtually the only development that could go on that property due to contamination, as well as being something that would produce income for the city on into the future.

The project now heads back to the city council for a possible vote on June 6.

David Penticuff is the local government reporter at the Star Press. Contact him at dpenticuff@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Neighbors hear more about solar array set for former site of GM plant