LEESVILLE, La. (KPLC) – The Vernon Parish Police Jury voted unanimously to lift a temporary moratorium on solar farms during a special meeting held Oct. 23.
The meeting was held at the same time as the Homecoming parade at Leesville High school.
Treaty Oak Energy Company plans to build a 10,000-acre solar farm along the Rapides Parish line near Pitkin.
Several Leesville business owners attended the meeting in support of new industry coming to Vernon Parish.
“I’m glad and very appreciative that the police jury did what they did to help Vernon Parish and Leesville begin to… some forward progression here, we’ve been a little stagnant but things are changing,” Mark Koury said.
“The beauty of what today was we saw all different departments, elements of Leesville coming together,” Rev. Cedric High, a business owner, said.
Police Jury President James Tuck said the parish needs new industry as its timber market and Fort Polk have declined.
“We’re a timber parish, and we’re blessed to have Fort Polk and the JRTC here. But unfortunately, our timber market has continued to decline, and also Fort Polk has declined over the years. So we just… we need a jump start to get our parish back to where we can be financially stable,” Tuck said.
“We took very serious the concerns of our citizens that are adjacent to this solar farm, but also a lot of our business people… if you have a big industry or jobs and business here, then it’s good for everyone,” Tuck said.
The police jury also voted to amend an ordinance regulating site development of the solar farm. Along with traffic and maintenance changes, the jury changed the buffer zone from 150 to 300 feet away from public roads and 500 feet away from homes and businesses.
“We love our people and our citizens here in Vernon Parish. We do want to address their concerns and try to work out the best we can for them,” Tuck said.
Tuck said the project drew pushback at times but said it is worth it in the end.
“But at the same time, we want opportunities for economic development and jobs and cash flow revenue in our parish. So we will be looking at whatever opportunities comes our way,” Tuck said.
Tuck told 7 News the jury will continue to have discussions with the company as construction begins, making sure they continue to honor state and federal law as well as the amended ordinance.
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