Commissioners want trustees to take stance

Auglaize County township trustees have been asked by the county commissioners to make a decision on where they stand on solar and wind energy development.

Most of the county’s townships were represented at an informational meeting held Wednesday night at Memorial High School in St. Marys.

Commissioners reviewed what Senate Bill 52 allows, while weighing whether a blanket exclusionary zone would be beneficial.

Commissioners have authority only over unincorporated areas of the county; however, if an exclusionary zone were to go through a referendum process and wind up on a ballot, the entire county could vote on that zone.

Commissioners focused on what townships want — wind, solar, both, or neither — where townships would want development, and the timing involved in being proactive about a development plan versus being reactive. The proactive plan is the exclusionary zone route, which reactive would be considering each project as it comes up.

With considering each project as it comes up, commissioners could turn a project down, limit the project’s scope or do nothing and let it go through the current OPSB process.

Commissioners are encouraging township officials to define their stance on renewable energy projects In a resolution so there is an official record to reference. They also encouraged trustees to talk to their constituents. Commissioner Doug Spencer said they would be waiting for feedback from all townships before making a determination.

Auglaize County Prosecutor Ed Pierce said

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he has been working with township trustees across the county in

developing renewable energy regulations for smaller projects. Currently Washington and Clay Township are refining their policies but are in the early stages.

Taylor Christian, field director for Ohio Land and Liberty Coalition, attended the meeting and said it is often too expensive to bother with multiple projects under 50 megawatts as they all require their own interconnection points. He said it was less costly to go through the OPSB

with a larger projects. Christian has been surveying how counties are implementing Senate Bill 52. He said Highland County is involving more landowners in determining exclusion zones, whereas Delaware County officials had mentioned using the exclusion zones as a negotiating tool.