Solar moratorium vote turns into preview of hearing coming on western Tippecanoe Co. project

Commissioners confirm that one-year moratorium will not block a Board of Zoning Appeals hearing scheduled for the 1,700-acre Rainbow Trout Solar Project, Tippecanoe County’s first

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SOLAR MORATORIUM VOTE TURNS INTO PREVIEW OF HEARING COMING ON WESTERN TIPPECANOE CO. PROJECT

A one-year moratorium on large-scale solar projects, finalized Monday morning by Tippecanoe County commissioners, won’t necessarily put the brakes on a 1,700-acre proposal in the western part of the county, heading for a pivotal hearing next week.

Commissioners made that clear Monday, as they paused any other projects in the works to give the county time to assemble a committee to determine what, if any, changes the county’s zoning policy – created just four years ago – needs.

“People are right, things have changed a lot since we passed the solar ordinance in 2021,” Commissioner Tom Murtaugh said after Monday’s vote. “It’s clear that it just makes sense for us to slow down and take another look.”

Commissioner David Byers has said that the county knows of several other solar projects being assembled in other parts of the county.

(Photo: Unsplash)

Monday’s hearing on the moratorium played out as a preview for June 25, though, when Geenex Power and RWE Clean Energy’s Rainbow Trout Solar Project, situated in two sections spread between Division Road and Montmorenci, is scheduled for an Area Board of Zoning hearing for a special zoning exception needed to advance what’s turned into a controversial plan.