A few odds and ends from the past week
About that silence that greeted a field hearing on American Suburban’s proposed rate increases. More time granted in Rainbow Trout Solar Project legal challenge. And more …
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A few odds and ends from the past week, for those keeping score at home …
ON THE SOLAR FARM FIGHT FRONT: A judge last week granted another one-month extension to the companies behind the proposed Rainbow Trout Solar Project to gather the full record that led up to a Board of Zoning Appeals vote in August 2025 that sidelined the 1,700-acre, 120-megawatt project in western Tippecanoe County.
Attorneys for Geenex and RWE Energy – the companies behind Rainbow Trout Solar – in September filed for a judicial review of the decision, arguing that the Board of Zoning Appeals “committed errors and abused its discretion” when it voted “without any rational basis” against a special zoning exception necessary for what would have been the county’s first utility-scale solar installation.
The Rainbow Trout project would have spread panels across miles of land leased from six property owners, stretching from near Division Road to Montmorenci, seven miles west of West Lafayette.
The Aug. 27 decision came during a marathon session that pitted the companies and solar energy advocates against neighbors who contended that the project was in the wrong location, amid a push by the county to review zoning codes for utility-scale solar projects.
Since the challenge was filed, the judge granted a request from a group of 11 neighbors to intervene in the legal case.
Last week’s move pushes the deadline to assemble the official record connected to the BZA hearing to April 8. No other hearings have been set in the case.
Here’s more on the companies’ request for a judicial review:
Meanwhile, the Area Plan Commission’s Ordinance Committee continues to weigh proposed changes to the county’s zoning regulations for large-scale solar farms before a one-year moratorium lifts June 2. The Area Plan Commission’s Ordinance Committee will hold a second meeting on the proposals at 4:30 p.m. April 1 at the County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., to consider recommendations to send to the full APC for an April 15 meeting. A recommendation from the full APC would go to Tippecanoe County commissioners as soon as May 4.
Here’s more on the debate on what is and isn’t in the proposed solar regulations, as they were unveiled earlier in March:
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AMERICAN SUBURBAN RATE HIKE GREETED BY NO PUBLIC COMMENT, THIS TIME: Four years ago, the last time the Wabash Township-based American Suburban Utilities presented a rate increase request to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, an IURC field hearing drew nearly 100 homeowners and others to the Battle Ground Middle School gym to speak against a 69% hike they labeled as “ludicrous.” The IURC didn’t use the same sort of language several months later in 2023 when the state regulators granted higher rates, but not before cutting American Suburban’s proposal down to 12.6%, or an additional $7.45 on a typical monthly bill for customers who live west and north of West Lafayette.
On Wednesday, the IURC returned to West Lafayette for a similar hearing, this time on American Suburban’s request for a two-stage rate increase that would take monthly residential service from $65.57 to $82.85 – a 26% increase – in the first phase, according to an application with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. The second phase would come in 2028, though no amount has been estimated by American Suburban.
This time, no one came to speak at Wednesday’s field hearing at the West Lafayette Public Library.
The moment had staff with the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor asking about whether some homeowners who led the fight against the previous rate increase were OK.
