A packed Morgan County commissioners office this morning heard give and take from neighbors of a proposed solar panel site north of Jacksonville, and the developers of the site.
The end result was a motion to table the memorandum of understanding between the county and Zimmer Solar 1. It will be pursued within the next month or two.
The proposed site is 60 acres at Substation Road and route 78, but the solar panel field would cover just 16 acres of the site.
Neighbors, like Kody Smith, urged the county board to turn it down. He based his experiences with a solar field by another company nearby at Indian Creek.
He says neighbors there have had problems with fires, cell phone and internet service, vandalism by workers on the project, and Smith is concerned about the impact of the environment and wildlife.
He says the Indian Creek solar field has had three fire calls since it was built.
Two people with Zimmer joined the meeting online, because weather kept them from attending in person. They claim there should be no such problems with Zimmer’s project.
There was also questions about who benefits from the electricity generated by the solar field, of which company officials says people can subscribe once the field is operational.
Board chairman Mike Wankel says adjustments will be made to the memorandum of understanding.
But, he admits there is little the board can do to block the project.
Commissioner Michael Woods says a 2023 law passed by the general assembly ties the county boards’ collective hands.
Woods says the board could control it better with zoning.
Morgan County currently has no county wide zoning laws.
Smith was joined in the crowd, and on the phone by about 7 other people, questioning the project.
Commissioner Donny Wood says the county is moving forward with the animal control program, working on regular reports from that office. He says the new agreement with South Jacksonville is an indication the problems brought up by the South Jacksonville board are being addressed.
And, the board started off the meeting by comments by Franklin resident Mike Woodyard, taking Dr Woods to task for his criticism of Jacksonville school district 117. There apparently is still some disagreement between Woods and school superintendent Steve Ptacek about the amount of money owed the county by school district 117.
There is, however, a memorandum of understanding between the school district and the clerk’s office on a final settlement that has not officially been dated yet.
And, County Clerk Sherry Sills reminds voters early voting for the March primary starts February 5th.