Neighbors’ effort to stop zoning hearing on 1,000-acre solar project fails

Legal action hinted on contentions of incomplete application for ‘Rainbow Trout Solar’ in western Tippecanoe County. Crucial vote lined up for June 25.

As seen in western Tippecanoe County. (Photo: Dave Bangert)

An attempt by neighbors to derail an upcoming zoning hearing for a solar project expected to cover more than 1,000 acres in western Tippecanoe County with panels fell short Wednesday afternoon.

Two days after Tippecanoe County commissioners initiated a one-year moratorium on large-scale solar fields – a move they agreed likely wouldn’t stop the proposed Rainbow Trout Solar Project two companies are lining up five miles from West Lafayette – residents argued Wednesday that an application by Geenex Power and RWE Clean Energy lacked details required to qualify for a needed special zoning exception under the county’s current rules.

Packing a County Office Building meeting room with residents dressed in red, marking their opposition to the project, neighbors urged the Area Plan Commission’s executive committee to not give into what they called a rush to approve the county’s first utility-scale solar project.

They argued that Geenex and RWE’s application left assurances about where the power was going and elements of a decommissioning plan – requirements in the county’s existing zoning code – in question.

But the APC committee voted 5-1 Wednesday to put the Rainbow Trout Solar Project application on the June 25 agenda for the Area Board of Zoning Appeals, agreeing with the planning staff’s analysis that the request “will not substantially adversely affect” the county’s comprehensive land use plan and setting up a pivotal vote on the solar question.

After Wednesday’s vote, there already were hints that court action could follow.