Highland County commissioners, Liberty Township representatives debate solar projects, zoning

Liberty Township trustees and residents met with Highland County commissioners at their Wednesday, Feb. 4 meeting to discuss the trustees’ recently passed resolution in opposition to solar development and possible remedies moving forward, including looking into zoning.

As previously reported, Liberty Township trustees Ronald Ward, Tyler Kelch and Joseph Middleton met Jan. 17 with approximately 70 residents and landowners, the vast majority of whom were opposed to solar development. A citizen-organized petition also received 600 signatures against solar projects in the township.

As background, Ward explained that this came about after the trustees were “approached in late 2025 about a small solar project” — a 47-acre, five-megawatt proposal — in the township.

Ward also said that “because of the layout of the township,” they believe that anyone looking to build a solar project would fall into the “small” category of under 50 megawatts.

Following their Jan. 17 public forum, trustees adopted a resolution affirming that they “are opposed to the development of any small or large solar facilities in Liberty Township.” As part of the resolution, the trustees also “request[ed] the Highland County Board of Commissioners to oppose the development of any such large and small solar facilities in the unincorporated areas of Liberty Township, pursuant to the prior passed resolution,” which is why they attended Wednesday’s meeting.

“It was obvious to us that at least the people that showed up to the meeting were in opposition [to solar],” Ward said. “We also understand there's a fine line between landowner rights and these other issues that come up with trying to say what somebody can and can't do with their land. You know, Hillsboro is the county seat of this county, and I guess my question is, do we as township trustees, as folks that live in the county come into our county seat — do we want solar panels to be seen on every single road coming in to our township?

“If folks like us don't stand up and say we don't want it, it's going to happen, and so we passed this resolution.”

Ward continued that “we don't want to tell people what they can and can't do with their land, but I think at some point we have to have a position where we're not littered with solar panels all around our beautiful county seat.” He told commissioners the Liberty Township trustees are asking “the county board of commissioners to act in alliance with the 2021 resolution that you passed to say you oppose it in Liberty Township, for all the reasons that we've included in our resolution.”  
 
Commission president Terry Britton responded that commissioners still “stand behind” their 2021 resolution.

“We fought pretty hard to get Senate Bill 52 put in place, so there would be some kind of a guardrail for this,” Britton said. “The only problem is without zoning or any kind of tool to use for this situation, whether it be small or large, there is a — you call it a fine line, but there is a line between the landowner rights and what they can and can't do with that property.

“Without another tool — zoning, some other things that’s in law that could be put in as far as agriculture … it’s going to be hard to control this.”

Commissioner David Daniels then spoke, pointing out that commissioners are “powerless to grant” the “relief” Liberty Township is seeking unless townships agree to a zoning plan, which would be allow them to control small projects under 50 megawatts.

“Zoning is the authority that grants under 50. The authority that we have stops large projects that go before the Power Siting Board,” Daniels said. “If everybody's against [solar], then this is the time that we need to seriously consider whether or not we need to be a zoned county, because this is not going to stop here.

“The other thing I have tried to do is if the General Assembly would grant authority for under-50 megawatt projects to the Power Siting Board, then we have the ability to go in and voice our opposition to that, and it gets stopped there. But that's the problem that we have. The authority that we have allows us to do that on large projects that go through the Power Siting Board. Under that, either county or township zoning has the most authority over those [projects] under 50 megawatts.”

Daniels echoed Britton in saying that commissioners “stand behind” their 2021 opposition to small solar projects.

“As far as I’m concerned, I would oppose this project,” he said. “We simply have no teeth.” 

Ward said the trustees were “asking you to just go on the record to say we oppose” solar projects.

“I think we’ve got to go on record as leaders of the township, leaders of the county, to say, if that's in fact, how you feel, that we don't want it here,” Ward said. 

“Well, we’ve done that,” Britton said. “We went on record in ’21. We passed a resolution, and we went on record then, that we would oppose anything under 50 megawatts.”

Daniels said they have “reiterated that, even as recently as” when a representative from an energy group looking into a potential project in Concord Township attended commissioners’ Jan. 7 meeting. 

Also, in 2024, Brushcreek Township trustees passed a resolution requesting “the county commissioners prohibit the construction of utility-scale wind and/or solar facilities altogether” in their township, at which point commissioners referred them again to the county’s 2021 resolution.

“We've set an acreage amount, and anybody that goes over that acreage on a new project that wasn't grandfathered under [Senate Bill] 52, we told them that we would oppose their project, if they didn't comply with the resolution that we passed,” Daniels said. “So we've done that. We continue to. 

“We're on record. That's what we've done. We've told the Power Siting Board that’s where we stand on all these, and I'm saying here, if they come in with a project that's under 50 megawatts, I oppose it.”

Commissioner Brad Roades said that he agreed and “would stand by that too,” as he said his “fear” right now is developers piecing together multiple projects under 50 megawatts to avoid oversight. Daniels said companies may “stack” those projects together “and make a larger operation out of these smaller ones.

“That's why, in my opinion, it's imperative that the General Assembly looks at lowering that 50-megawatt oversight with the Power Siting Board to get it down to a smaller, more reasonable number,” Daniels said. “I think anything that goes into the grid ought to be put in with Power Siting Board oversight.”

Daniels said that he has also shared that opinion with Power Siting Board representatives and others. Ward asked if commissioners would be willing to write a letter to state legislators with that recommendation.

“Absolutely,” Britton said.

Roades added that the county has “no enforcement of anything” and “nothing to stand behind” their opposition without a zoning board. Britton agreed.

“The landscape around the United States has changed the power requirements needed to turn the lights on, run your heat, all the other things that goes on,” Britton said. “Things are changing. The other thing that I think is we need to think about changing with it, and the only way that we can do that is take a real hard look at zoning. Zoning does things, not only for the solar issues that we've got, but that takes care of some of our health issues that we've got. 

“We've got all kinds of things in the county that we've been fighting to try to deal with, and we just don't have the systems in place to deal with that. I think we really need to take a real hard look, and not just Liberty Township, but all the townships in Highland County need to take a good look at what we can do.”

Ward said that if commissioners were to implement zoning, a countywide approach likely “would be the smartest way to do it.”

“For us to pass county zoning, we would need full-throated support from 17 boards of township trustees,” Daniels said. “We've tried it before and it hasn’t worked, and the reason it hasn't is because you've got three people here that are asking people to pass the zoning law that a lot of people don't see the benefit from. 

“You can't use it to stop something. You’ve got to use it as a full-blown development tool.”
 
Daniels added that for a plan to work, they would have to have “everybody on board,” including municipalities and other entities, such as the Health Department. Roades said that similar discussions were had a recent Farm Bureau meeting.

“I think everybody's just now starting to come to the idea that we have to have something other than a piece of paper there,” Roades said. “There has to be enforcement in order to keep this out. 

“Quite honestly, we are in a perfect situation right now, with our county doing our comprehensive plan.”

As previously reported, in October, commissioners voted to enter a contract with The Montrose Group, LLC for economic development consulting services in the amount of $50,000. In August, county economic development director Julie Bolender presented a proposal to commissioners regarding a new comprehensive plan, as she said the county’s only comprehensive plan was completed in 2003.

Roades said that consultants could help them determine what a zoning plan could look like in Highland County.

“It’s not going to happen overnight, but in five years, it's set up,” Roades said.

Outside of zoning, Daniels said another option property owners could take would be to establish an Agricultural Security Area, which is “a tool that promotes agricultural retention by creating special areas in which agriculture is encouraged and protected,” according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Those require “at least 500 acres of contiguous farmland,” the ODA says.

“Once that happens, then there's some protection under Ohio law that will allow that to remain in agricultural production,” Daniels said. “One of the problems that you have is you're asking people to band together to do that, knowing full good and well that if somebody comes and offers them $2,700 an acre for their property, they don't have a choice anymore.”

For more from Wednesday's meeting, see the story at: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/commissioners-updated-ongoing-boil….

Publisher's note: A free press is critical to having well-informed voters and citizens. While some news organizations opt for paid websites or costly paywalls, The Highland County Press has maintained a free newspaper and website for the last 26 years for our community. If you would like to contribute to this service, it would be greatly appreciated. Donations may be made to: The Highland County Press, P.O. Box 849, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133. Please include "for website" on the memo line.