LAFAYETTE, IN — An 11-month moratorium on large-scale solar developments in the county ended Monday with the adoption of a new zoning ordinance 11 months after Tippecanoe County commissioners banned any unfiled developments from advancing.
The new ordinance limits commercial solar developments to no more than 400 acres. It also moves setbacks to 500 feet from adjacent property lines and caps the total number of commercial solar developments in the county to a total of no more than 6,000 acres.
“As the resident farmer up here,” commissioner Dave Byers said, “… don’t think I don’t cringe every time we agree to a 40-acre development or an 80-acre development. I know that’s good ground disappearing.
“I was against this from the beginning,” Byers said. “I see this as a compromise. Can this still happen? Yes. But we’re setting the parameters.”
Byers said this ordinance doesn’t ban solar, and he’d rather see solar farms placed atop large buildings or factories.
“They’ve already took 20 or 40 acres to build a cement shed. They could have it (solar panels) sitting on top of it,” Byers said.
The ordinance had its share of public support for the compromise, and it also had a few detractors who opposed more restrictive regulations on solar power.
“This is a start,” commissioner Tom Murtaugh said. “Any ordinance can be amended in the future if we learn more, if there’s an appetite for making amendment to any ordinance. We do it quite frequently.”
The moratorium on the county’s solar power ordinance became an issue last year when Rainbow Trout Solar planned a commercial solar farm on 1,700 acres in northwestern Tippecanoe County. The moratorium, however, came after Rainbow Trout Solar filed its plans, so it was too late to stop that development. However, Rainbow Trout Solar was stopped in the approval process.
Rainbow Trout Solar has a pending lawsuit against the county in an attempt to reverse the county’s rejection of the project.
Kenny McCleary, who led a grassroots effort to stop Rainbow Trout Solar, favored the revisions.
Steve Shelby, a farmer in Shelby Township, which was named after his ancestor, supported the ordinance, too.
“We support solar energy as part of our energy future, just not on prime farmland,” Shelby said as he thanked everyone for their hard work to reach a compromise ordinance. “Your support has exempted prime farmland from being destroyed and taking out an important part of our environment.”
Susan Schecter opposed the changes.
“It’s a curious process to just take comments from everybody and take it all as … valid,” Schecter said. “I would encourage you in the future to have a better process when you make decisions. It kind of scares me that you all are making decisions about the county when you have such poor process.”
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

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