After months of waiting and two delayed meetings, the matter of a proposed solar farm just outside Waterloo finally came before Monroe County officials, garnering a largely negative reception.

The Monroe County Planning Commission voted to recommend denying a petition for special use exception for Chicago-based Monroe Sun LLC and Monroe Sun 2 LLC seeking a permit for a “large solar energy facility” on a plot of land north of Maeystown Road to the southwest of Waterloo just outside city limits.

With that recommendation of denial, the matter is now set to go before the Monroe County Zoning Board of Appeals.

Discussion of the solar farm took up most of a nearly three-hour meeting, consisting largely of a presentation from the farm’s prospective developers, questioning and critique by members of the planning commission and a substantial amount of input from those members of the public in attendance.

Speaking on behalf of the project were attorney Sean Pluta, engineer Hannah London and Henry Barrett,  director of business development for Nexamp, the parent company of both Monroe Sun LLCs.

In explaining the ultimate recommendation to deny the permit, commissioners pointed primarily to the seemingly incomplete nature of the application.

Throughout the meeting, it was noted various important elements of the application were missing, outdated or otherwise showed flaws, such as a soil report or plans for stormwater management.
Planning commission members chiefly jumped on the apparent omission of information regarding a large, high-pressure gas pipeline which runs through the property and would thus seem to heavily impact how the solar farm could be set up.

While project representatives seemed to indicate they were aware of the pipeline, they also indicated it took them an extended period to receive easement and other information from the pipeline’s owner, thus the omission.

Additional concerns were raised about the solar farm’s place within the new county comprehensive plan which, while not affecting how any properties are actually zoned, prioritizes properties so close to municipalities for residential development.

The vote to recommend denying the permit was unanimous, with most commissioners voicing some sort of dissaproval or criticism throughout the meeting.

Commissioner Jane Kolmer was among those officials who was particularly vocal and seemingly well-researched on the application, voicing a number of concerns.

“The application’s not perfect,” Kolmer said. “The submission’s not perfect. It’s a big responsibility for us to make these decisions for the community. There’s a lot of things that don’t match. There’s some that say Monroe Sun, some that say Monroe Sun II, some that say Farkes’ name, some that say Nexamp. A lot of the pieces feel like they were piecemealed together, and, in my personal opinion, this is a huge mess.”

As mentioned, members of the public also had a number of comments during the meeting.

These remarks and questions largely focused on the solar farm’s impact on the aesthetic and character of the area, concerns about pollution and flooding and the value in maintaining the rural, farming element of the county.

Read more about this meeting in the Dec. 10 issue of the Republic-Times newspaper.