Tippecanoe Co. backs solar moratorium, 1,000-acre project still headed for zoning hearing

County commissioners give initial OK to one-year moratorium on major solar projects. Why they say that won’t necessarily be enough to kill a western Tippecanoe County project that prompted the pause.

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TIPPECANOE CO. BACKS SOLAR MORATORIUM, 1,000-ACRE PROJECT STILL HEADED FOR ZONING HEARING

Tippecanoe County will reconsider and possibly rework zoning regulations finalized four years ago on large-scale solar projects, as commissioners say new technology and scope – not to mention growing public pushback on a proposed project in the western part of the county – have them rethinking whether current codes are sufficient.

But county commissioners said after a vote Monday morning before a standing-room-only crowd that they didn’t expect a one-year moratorium on solar projects larger than 10 acres to stop the first proposed utility-scale solar project in the county.

(Photo: Unsplash)

That one is scheduled to go to the Area Board of Zoning Appeals on June 25 for the first round of approvals needed to install more than 1,000 acres of panels near Montmorenci, roughly five miles from West Lafayette.

“As far as I understand it, they’ve already filed and they can still proceed,” Commissioner David Byers said after Monday’s vote. “As for other projects coming that we know are out there, it’s time to get ahead of this and fix some of the holes we have.”

Ryan Munden, a Lafayette attorney representing the companies behind a plan dubbed the Rainbow Trout Solar Project, said Monday that though the moratorium felt like an attempt to kill the project, the plan was to move forward on a request to get a special exception required under the current zoning code.

“The law is pretty clear regarding retroactive application of a new ordinance or moratorium to a project that has already been filed,” Munden said Monday. “Whether or not they take another position is something that Mr. (Doug) Masson (the county’s attorney) and I will have to argue about in front of the Circuit Court, if we have to get to that point.”

For dozens of residents who live near the Rainbow Trout project, many dressed in red at Monday’s hearing, the vote was a welcome move.