Fighting 'Solar Farm' Installation

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Years ago we fought cell towers in our county and won. We were not opposed to cell service but 200 ft. towers with lights on top. Cell service can be some 300 ft. towers, it takes more 200 ft. ones and many more 50ft. ones...but same coverage.
Homeowners are approached by tower installation company promising monthly rent payments, not realizing they become "Christmas trees" filled with antennas and need 24/7 access. We took pictures superimposing towers on the landscape, we hired a professional knowledgeable with towers, canvassed neighborhood getting signatures and made a board of supervisors presentation. We won. Shorter towers can be camouflaged to blend in with trees, antennas installed in church steeples (church gets the rent money), and antennas can go on existing power line towers and telephone poles.
That's what you must do, calling attention to the county all ramifications of solar panels, impact on aesthetics...impact on environment...property values, etc. It's best to provide an alternative solution like having them in a commercial area.
Signatures and impacted property owners showing up at board meetings especially with media coverage carries a lot of weight. Having "before and after" photograph prints means a lot. It all starts with a small group of concerned citizens which grows as you get signatures with some joining the group.

 

[crashz]

I doubt it was your $5200 that they gave to Steve. If Steve is anything like many of us he pays WAY more in federal income taxes than $5200. I think your money was used to shoot down a balloon.

I'm a fan of solar energy, but not on good land. It makes no sense really. Utilizing a good resource to develop another is at best a neutral gain. But for closed landfills and roof tops, it makes perfect sense. Both are abundent, ugly, have no other potential use, require regular maintenance, and are located in areas of higher electrical demands. Only makes sense.

 

[RSKY]

I agree with you 100% and I hardly believe a solar farm will make adjacent property values plummet.

It is a large company from out of state installing the 'farm'. There was a meeting with the local property owners about this and my daughter and others said the company representatives were condescending and very, very rude. They were rude even to the people who owned the property where the panels are going to be installed.

RSKY

 

[ruffdog]

Some people tried to fight this solar farm.

Alliant Energy completes work on solar farm in Rock County

 

[4570Man]

Everyone claims green energy is the future yet nobody actually wants it. They tried building a wind farm on the outskirts of town here which it’s a pretty low end area anyway and there was a huge fit about it.

 

[2diamondfarm]

My township is looking at having ordinances to NOT allow commercial solar farms at all . I can see both sides of it where some land owners say its my property and I should be able to do what I want with it, on the other hand I would not want to live next door to one

 

[Mtsoxfan]

Just curious what you base this on? With all the federal programs and power company buy back I would think it would be a payback. Just my thinking, I don't have anything to base it on in Kentucky. The way he worded it almost sounds like if a group got together to do it, it may be for personal use anyway.

I had solar, even if you take away incentives, as you should in calculations, our break even was (estimated) 10ish years. After that, FREE electricity. Yes, FREE, because the savings PAID for the system. The add to that, the payback when you sell the property. In our case, having a solar system that is capable of supplying ALL the electrical needs (at least for my family) increased the price we got for our home. Hard to be definate because of the crazy real estate market, but feel it too paid for system.

Tell us again how there is no payback?

 

[orezok]

I suppose some people would prefer a pig farm on that GOOD farm land. LOL

 

[Mtsoxfan]

If their property values went to nothing I would think their taxes would do the same and the neighbors would be quiet?

There are 2 property values, what the town says its worth, and what the real estate market says its worth. IMHO, town values are not dependent on location.
Unless you live in a area that has a "view" tax. But I doubt they would compensate either way to that view...

 

[Oaktree]

Years ago we fought cell towers in our county and won. We were not opposed to cell service but 200 ft. towers with lights on top. Cell service can be some 300 ft. towers, it takes more 200 ft. ones and many more 50ft. ones...but same coverage.
Homeowners are approached by tower installation company promising monthly rent payments, not realizing they become "Christmas trees" filled with antennas and need 24/7 access. We took pictures superimposing towers on the landscape, we hired a professional knowledgeable with towers, canvassed neighborhood getting signatures and made a board of supervisors presentation. We won. Shorter towers can be camouflaged to blend in with trees, antennas installed in church steeples (church gets the rent money), and antennas can go on existing power line towers and telephone poles.
That's what you must do, calling attention to the county all ramifications of solar panels, impact on aesthetics...impact on environment...property values, etc. It's best to provide an alternative solution like having them in a commercial area.
Signatures and impacted property owners showing up at board meetings especially with media coverage carries a lot of weight. Having "before and after" photograph prints means a lot. It all starts with a small group of concerned citizens which grows as you get signatures with some joining the group.

Gotta love the cell tower NIMBYs, never let the facts get in the way of a good rant. I don't know where you get the idea that there are people at these sites at all hours of the day & night. I spent 25 years working on communications gear, much of it installed at cell sites, and months could go by where no one visited a given site at all. Most of these towers are in relatively isolated areas, on mountain/hilltops to get the best coverage. They don't cause cancer either.