By Abigail Roberts
Generations of Lincoln County farmers appeared before the Lincoln County/Cedar Creek Board of Adjustments to voice concerns about a proposed solar energy system in the Preachersville area.
The board also heard from several property owners with solar contracts who are in favor of the project. There are a total of 14 property owners with lease agreements with Candela Renewables.
The Board of Adjustments held a public hearing for each property, beginning at 1 p.m. and ending at about 5:40 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 2. All of the properties are zoned Agricultural (A-1).
Project Overview
Gregory Dutton, of FTB Gibbons law firm, spoke briefly on the legal framework of the conditional use permits process. Dutton said the company is requesting conditional use permits for construction operation of a commercial solar energy system.
The company asked for a three-year time frame for the conditional use permits to allow the project enough time to go through the development cycle.
Dutton said the project is in compliance with the county’s comprehensive plan and meets the following goals of that plan: minimize the impact of flooding through wise land use decisions; attract clean and diverse energy; develop local opportunities for employment; to ensure that all developments address storm drainage adequately; and ensure that water quality and water supply are protected.
Candela Renewables presented a list of additional conditions that they are committed to as part of the conditional use permit.
Thomas Dandino, Project Developer for Candela Renewables, gave an overview of the 1780 Candela Renewables Solar Energy Project.
There are 14 local families participating in an option-to-lease agreement with Candela Renewables.
“The project will not be purchasing lands, but instead will be leasing or renting lands from these families,” Dandino said. “At the end of the useful life of the project, this means the land will be returned back to those families that we were leasing or renting from.”
The total amount of land under an option-to-lease agreement is just above 2,800 acres.
“We’ve considered a number of constraints on and around our site. This includes neighboring residential structures and properties. This includes the Dix River and other creeks and waterways. We’ve considered slopes. We’ve considered existing vegetation and tree lines and we’ve worked to avoid and mitigate any impacts to these constraints as well,” Dandino said.
With those things in mind, Candela has identified approximately 1,500 acres of that total are viable for the energy project, he said.
The size of the project would be 200 MW of solar paired with 200 MW of battery, with the battery having four hours of discharging or charging duration. The site sits immediately adjacent to a high voltage transmission line.
“The electricity that is expected to be generated every year will power, on average, 33,500 Kentucky homes every single year,” Dandino said.
The company plans to apply and receive a construction certificate from the Kentucky Siting Board, secure storm water permits from the State Division of Water and secure building and electrical permits in 2027. Construction is set to begin in 2027 with operations beginning in 2029.
“What we are really excited to share about this project are the economic benefits that are expected to be generated for Lincoln County,” Dandino said.
Dandino said the project will generate low-cost energy, create living-wage jobs and will introduce new revenue streams for Lincoln County. The project will also have a relatively-low demand on county-wide resources.
“We make rather than take,” he said.
The construction period of the project expects to bring about 400 new construction jobs, with an additional 200 jobs created indirectly.
Dandino said the project expects to have a 35-to-45-year useful life span. Over the 40 years, the project expects to commit $500 million of capital in construction and cost/investment and about $98.2 million in wages paid out in that time period.
“In addition to the jobs created, there are also new revenue streams from tax. With all of these folks being paid, there is an occupational tax that the county can collect,” he said. “It’s expected over the 40-year useful life, that occupational tax revenue will exceed $700,000. Additionally, one of the larger items here, is the expected addition to property tax revenue. Over the 40-year useful life of this project, the project will generate $5 million of additional property tax revenue, when compared to what the current site will generate over the next 40 years if no project was developed.”
Dandino shared a preliminary site plan in which the blue areas depict the proposed places where solar panels could be placed with minimum impact on wildlife, waterways and residential neighbors.
General comments from public
The Board of Adjustments opened the hearing to general comments from the public on the overall project, before beginning with individual public hearings on conditional use permits.
Bruce Bailey, who lived on Goshen Road, said his land joins with the Dix River and cannot withstand anymore runoff water.
“I believe a project of this size is going to flood,” he said.
Bailey shared concerns about tornadoes. He gave pictures to the board of a destroyed solar project area in Indiana following tornadoes.
“Our farm is a second generation farm about to be a third generation, and we’d like to keep it this way, a family farm,” Bailey said. “This project benefits 17 (14) property owners. I’m asking y’all to protect us property owners because there’s more of us than there are them and keep our family farms together. I ask you not to approve this project and protect the rest of us.”
Phillip Stevens, who lives on Stingy Creek Road, said when he bought his farm from his grandfather, he did so because he loved the view.
“I love that view so much that my wife and I made our home there. If this project goes through, my view will be changed from beautiful farmland to solar panels. I’ll be looking at a solar farm for the rest of my life,” Stevens said. “A solar farm is not a farm. It is an industrial use of land. We are living in an agricultural zone and we don’t want to live in an industrial zone.”
Stevens said the project will feather the pockets of some, but will negatively impact many who live in the area.
Jana Blevins, a 4th generation farmer who runs a cattle-calf operation on Swope Road opposes the use of prime farm land for the project.
“The thought of seeing productive farm land covered in acres and acres of solar panels is so difficult. What we do puts food on my table and feeds my family,” Blevins said. “…I don’t see just acreage. I see my grandparents and parents’ blood, sweat and tears. I see my parents’ blood, sweat and tears and I see the tears that I’ve put into it..I see the cattle that we raise today and, most importantly, I see my son’s future…”
Vicki Stevens, who has lived on Stingy Creek Road for almost 40 years, said the area already suffers from existing flooding issues and water run-off problems.
“Our area, because it has so many hills, our creeks flood and get up over the road and driveways and bridges,” she said.
Stevens said the flooding can be dangerous.
“That’s what we’re worried about. There’s no way that you can put that many solar panels in that small of an area and it not create more flooding,” she said. “…I don’t think they’ve worked with the adjacent property owners, I’ve not heard from them. I don’t buy it that they’re working with adjacent property owners to address their concerns.”
Haley Crabtree, of Swope Road, said agriculture is not simply a use for this land, it’s part of her family’s history and livelihood.
Crabtree said families are already feeling the effect of high beef prices and fears of products coming from outside of the country and taking local, productive farmland out of production will only worsen those problems.
“To me, that should be reason to strengthen American agriculture, not reduce the amount of productive land available to our farmers and cattle producers,” she said. “…If we continue reducing the land we cannot be surprised when food becomes more expensive and our country becomes more dependent on food that is raised elsewhere.”
Lincoln County is an agricultural community, she said.
“There are better locations than productive farm land,” she said. “…Are we going to be a county that protects the farmers that feed our communities or are we going to look back and wonder why we allowed productive land to disappear while the cost of feeding our families continues to raise?”
Keith Holly of Stingy Creek Road said he’s lived in big cities and looked at glass his whole life.
“I came home to help my brother farm and retire and I really don’t want to continue looking at glass,” he said.
Duvall Sims, of Boone Road, raises beef cattle and lives near other family members on the same road.
“I get up in the morning and look at the cattle grazing in the green grass and it just makes my heart feel good. And then I think, what would it be life if it was solar panels?” Sims said. “It’s a scary thought and it could happen. I know that we live in changing times…I’ve seen companies that had these kind of things set up and when they went broke there was no money left…I ask that you consider all of Lincoln County when you make your decisions and try to save our beautiful farm land.”
John Hackley, who owns property on Swope Road currently under contract for the solar project, said the elephant in the room is the fact that if Candela cannot move forward with their project, there is a likelihood that they will sell the contracts to a public utility, which does not have to adhere to community concerns or regulations.
“But, and it’s a huge but, should the county or the zoning board adopt restrictions that are too burdensome at any point in time, the private investors that wish to develop this project can sell it to KU/LG&E,” Hackley said.
Hackley said this happened recently in Mercer County.
“When LG&E bought the rights to build solar panels in Mercer County two important effects occurred – 1. Mercer County will never earn a penny of ad valorem tax from a public utility and 2. because a public utility purchased that right that is established by the option leases, zoning is ineffective…,” Hackley said. “It is estimated that by the year 2035 Kentucky’s need of electricity will increase 300 percent.”
Hackley said farmers will only be given fair market value if the contracts were sold to a public utility.
“Candela has never spoken to me about the possibility of selling out to a public utility…I read about it in the project that occurred in Mercer County,” Hackley said.
Richard Holly has lived on Stingy Creek Road for 57 years.
“It’s a one-land road,” he said. “People drive fast enough on it. People that live there, their kids and grand kids walk up and down that road, ride bicycles and enjoy themselves. Unless they come in from Goshen Road to build the solar farm on Stingy Creek, I don’t know how they’re going to get down there because it’s a one-land road. You can see everyone that lives on Stingy Creek is against it, except for the ones who signed up for it…”
Candela Responds to General Comments
Dutton reviewed the 19 conditions that Candela has submitted with the permit requests which he said will protect nearby properties and mitigate the issues that were brought forward by adjacent property owners.
Dandino expanded on those conditions and the issues raised by the community. Candela mapped and provided visual impact simulations to the Board of Adjustments.
“In accordance with the county’s solar ordinance, all equipment at a minimum will be set back 150 feet from any adjoining residences. The site also benefits from natural topography, waterways and tree lines that create natural, vegetative buffers,” he said.
Dandino said the company strategically selected locations on Preachersville Road, Stingy Creek Road and Ky. Hwy. 39 to create visual simulations to show how the natural vegetation and topography reduces visual impacts to neighbors.
The company has also provided a vegetative screening plan which utilizes native species to address visual impacts.
“There are only two adjoining residences that come within 150 feet from the nearest equipment,” he said. “Many of these residences will be hundreds of feet, and in certain cases over one thousand feet, from the equipment, fence line and ultimate impact of the project,” he said. “The project plans to continue to work with neighbors mapping specific locations of residences and identifying ways to the extent possible to mitigate any impacts to view shed and other forms of life.”
Dandino also addressed the decommissioning plan, which he said will comply with all state and federal requirements.
“The project will be required by the state to set aside a bond that will help decommission the project. In other words, set aside money to will help restore the site to a substantially similar condition that it was found prior to the start of construction,” he said. “A third party will be hired to determine the bond amount. that is meant to cover the cost of removing equipment, labor, machinery, etc.”
Every five years, the bond amount will be refreshed and the project will be responsible for the bond amount. The beneficiaries of the bond will be the state of Kentucky, the county and the landowners participating in the project.
Environmental engineer and Senior Director for Candela Louis Derosa spoke on the environmental concerns raised by the public.
“This project, just like this building and other structures in the county and state will be required to be engineered and constructed to relevant engineering standards. That includes high winds, major storm events and other significant weather events that this project may face in Kentucky,” Derosa said. “…In addition to that, should there be a catastrophic event where there is damage, this project will have insurance that covers exactly that kind of clean up and repair action, that would clean up debris, remove and replace solar panels and any other repairs that would need to occur.”
Derosa said the projects are built to maintain vegetation and topography to the greatest extent possible. Older practices of solar projects used to grade and level the ground but that is not how they are constructed today, he said.
Shane Kelley, of Stantec Consulting, an environmental consulting firm, discussed the project’s plans for flooding issues.
Kelley said the state requires the project to create a storm water pollution prevention plan.
That includes silk fencing, filter socks that catch sediment before leaving the project, temporary seeding and other tactics.
“There won’t be any increase run-off during construction and post-construction, once the project is fully-seeded, they’ll be using native grass seed to re-seed the whole project and that should reduce run-off compared to farming operations on the project,” he said.
Public Hearing #1
• 192 acres (Farmers National Bank of Danville trustee in favor of William Clark Roth IRA) property located at the end of Goshen Church Road.
Rusty Clark, who has an option-to-lease for the solar project, said when his family bought their farms times were good and cattle prices were high. His goal was to create a generational family farm and they rely on one income, beef cattle. Clark said low cattle prices have forced him to diversify.
Clark said his reasoning for entering into this agreement is that the farm stays a farm, it stays in the family, and diversifies their income.
Adjoining property owner Shannon Thompson said she is against the project and doesn’t want solar panels around her home.
Doug Smith, also an adjoining property owner on Stingy Creek Road, said a farm is a place where you can raise a family, agricultural products and food.
Board of Adjustments member Dane Donaldson asked about the criteria for choosing the area as well as questions about tax revenue and what happens to conditional use permits when land ownership changes. Candela representatives said if the landowner changes their mind, the lease agreement will govern that. Those are executed through private agreements. There was legal discussion about the issue.
The board voted to approve the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #2
• 120 acres on stingy Creek Road owned by Clark land and Cattle LLC
Rusty Clark said that he kept some acreage of his farm, which adjoins the neighbor, to continue farming and not to be used by the solar project.
Donnie Gooch, an adjoining property owner, said it seemed like the Board of Adjustments was taking advice from Candela instead of the community.
Phillip Stevens spoke again and said his neighbor Adrian Waddell, also an adjoining property owner, submitted a letter to the board with his concerns. The board confirmed they read the letter.
Dandino said Candela has been in contact with Waddell, who was concerned about the wildlife and hunting on his property. Dandino said Candela modified their plan to provide a 900-foot wide corridor for wildlife. Waddell later appeared before the board and said he had remaining concerns about drainage and contamination toward his farm.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #3
• 148 acres located at 315 Whitaker Lane and Stingy Creek owned by Johnathan and Jessica Gay
Johnathan Gay said he was there to represent his family and their decision and he appreciates the Board of Adjustments taking the time to hear them.
Phillip Stevens spoke again and said he is disappointed in what he has seen from the Board of Adjustments. He raised concerns about wildlife, additional water and run-off from the project and negative impacts on his property values.
Vicki Stevens spoke again as well and told the board they didn’t have to approve the permits. Stevens said the community is heart-sick about the project that is going to make money for some and leave others with the problems.
Board of Adjustment members asked about the flooding.
Candela representatives said the project will use wildlife friendly fencing and retention ponds, if necessary, and they have an ongoing requirement to maintain storm water controls throughout the life of the project. The company also encourages vegetation but will mow the grass if necessary and said sheep grazing is an option.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #4
• 120 acres located on Stingy Creek Road near the end of the road owned by Trevor Clark
There were no comments from adjoining property owners.
Board of Adjustments Member Mack Dunn asked if there were any homes close to the property. Clark said there was a mobile home. Candela representatives said the project has been set back to accommodate neighboring homes and wildlife.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #5
• 120 acres on Preachersville Road and Homer Day Road near Boone Road and Dix River owned by Vernon Baker
There were no comments from adjoining property owners.
Dandino of Candela said the of the 300 acres of the property, 180 acres were excluded from the project to remain in agriculture production.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #6
• 392 acres on Swope Road owned by Charles Hackley Family Revocable Living Trust
John Hackley said the solar project is one way to use the farmland without destroying it. Hackley said a data center, a factory or a subdivision would be forever, but the solar project is a temporary use of land.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #7
• 185 acres located at 725 Swope Road (previously owned by Patrick and Ashley Roberts, now owned by Jana Blevins)
Jana Blevins spoke again in opposition of the project. There were legal questions due to the fact that the contract was in place when Blevins purchased the land. Blevins said she was aware of the contract when purchasing the land but she still does not want to see the land used for the solar project. Blevins said she owns 208.3 acres and 185 acres are up for solar, leaving her 23.23 acres to run her cattle-calf operation.
Candela said they found out about the new ownership today and will reach out to the new owner but it does not alter the conditional use request made today.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #8
• 42 acres on Preachersville Road located next to Dix River Church of Christ owned by Charles Bryant
J. J. Bryant spoke on behalf of Charles Bryant in favor of the project and granting of the conditional use permit. Bryant said she understands the feelings of others in the community but the land belongs to them and it is their right to use it how they see fit. Bryant said a public utility will not work with the community like Candela will and asked the board to approve the permit.
Adjoining property owners Thomas and Jenifer Whitehouse said they are in favor of the permit.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #9
• 42 acres on Preachersville Road located at Preachersville Road and Homer Day Road near Boone Road and Dix River owned by Charles Bryant
The board included the previous testimony from J.J. Bryant. Charles Bryant said he was in favor.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #10
• 82 acres at 2649 Preachersville Road owned by Thomas and Jenifer Whitehouse
Jenifer Whitehouse said Candela has worked hard to make sure the project does not have negative impacts on surrounding property owners. Whitehouse said this is her family’s way of earning income with the land, while maintaining ownership for their future generations who may want to use to the land to farm in the future.
Philip Gabriel, who adjoins the property, asked for Candela to consider changing the setback to 900 feet.
Candela provided visuals of the natural vegetation and view from the roadway near Gabriel’s residence, arguing that the panels will not be visible from the home. Candela said granting that level of setbacks would significantly impact the project. Candela discouraged granting individual setbacks and said there is a lot of natural topography that blocks the view. Candela said the setbacks are from residences to the project, not property lines to the project.
Whitehouse said Gabriel’s house to the back of the Whitehouse property is 1,600 feet.
Gabriel said the board heard many people from the community speak against the project and they were ignored.
Donaldson reviewed the visual impact simulations provided by Candela of the view shed from the road in front of Gabriel’s property.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #11
• 196 acres located at 3324 Preachersville Road near Day farm owned by Jeffrey and Melissa Frith
There were no comments from adjoining property owners.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #12
• 50 acres located at 3640 Preachersville Road owned by James and Rebecca Rankin
There were no comments from adjoining property owners.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #13
• 229 acres on Preachersville Road opposite of 4155 Preachersville Road owned by Barry Spurlin
There were no comments from adjoining property owners.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #14
• 412 acres located at 3395 and 3725 Preachersville Road owned by Carolyn Rankin
There were no comments from adjoining property owners.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #15
• 412 acres located at 3395 and 3725 Preachersville Road owned by Carolyn Rankin
The acreage listed is incorrect, it is two tracts totaling 412 acres.
Gabriel spoke in opposition and asked for a 900-foot corridor. Gabriel said the hearings are a mockery.
James Rankin said trees and the existing setbacks will block Gabriel’s view of solar panels.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #16
• 210 acres located at 3405 Preachersville Road owned by Sam Adams
Gabriel said he opposes the permit.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
Public Hearing #17
• 74 acres at 4765 Ky. Hwy. 39 n near Boone Road and Preachersville Road owned by Robert Bowman II and Abby Bowman
There were no comments from adjoining property owners.
The board approved the conditional use permit with added conditions proposed by Candela.
