The Morgan Town Hall had standing room only Oct. 7 for a special meeting about the Fox Solar Project.
Fox Solar Project is the proposal of Florida-based developer NextEra Energy. The project would consist of a 100-megawatt solar farm and 50-megawatt battery facility on 648.9 acres of land near CCC Road and County Road C.
Representatives of NextEra hosted two informal meetings the previous day in Oconto Falls but declined to attend the town hall meeting.
First at the meeting, county officials cleared up misunderstandings about the Farmland Preservation Program.
Prior to the meeting, many residents had expressed to the town board their disappointment in what they believed to be the cancellation of the Farmland Preservation Program.
It was thought that the program’s ordinance was in effect at some time and then later revoked, and that this allowed for the solar farm project, which would have otherwise been forbidden.
This was a misunderstanding.
“The Farmland Preservation Program was never put in ordinance to begin with. It was only a plan,” said Patrick Virtues, Oconto County planning and zoning administrator. “It got as far as the committee, and the committee in 2015 did not recommend adopting an ordinance.”
No farmland preservation ordinance was in effect in the Town of Morgan at any time.
“And even if a farmland preservation ordinance was in effect at this time, it would not have had authority to prevent this solar farm,” Virtues said.
A farmland preservation ordinance, whether at the town or county level, has no legal authority to stop a solar farm.
State law declares “all restrictions on platted land that prevent or unduly restrict the construction and operation of solar energy systems … are void.”
When residents at the meeting asked if the town could adopt any kind of ordinance to halt the solar farm, the answer was no.
“The state Public Service Commission is in charge,” said Lori Witthuhn, town chairwoman. “Our authority as a town to restrict solar farms is very, very limited.”
State law prohibits local governments from restricting solar energy systems unless the restriction “serves to preserve or protect the public health or safety,” “does not significantly increase the cost of the system or significantly decrease its efficiency” or “allows for an alternative system of comparable cost and efficiency.”
The town is currently negotiating with NextEra terms on a joint development agreement, which allows for the town to seek concessions.
“One of the things we asked for was that the solar panels would be setback 300 feet from property lines,” Witthuhn said. “I just talked with the NextEra representative, and he said that we are not going to get that.”
Many residents voiced their concerns with construction noise over the two-year building process.
It is estimated that more than 200,000 solar panels will be constructed on the 648.9 acres of land, each panel expected to require one to three anchors. Each anchor would be secured using pile driving that emits sound at 150 decibels.
Residents asked the board to request in the joint development agreement that construction would be limited to eight hours a day, but residents could not agree on a set time, because some work second shift.
Residents fear that the noises could potentially be heard many miles away from the solar farm site, affecting the sleep and mental health of residents, especially military veterans suffering from PTSD.
Some houses bordering the solar farm could potentially be fewer than 150 feet away from the solar panels.
The board informed the town that NextEra plans to provide a safety and evacuation protocol to the town in two to three years.
“They told me two to three years,” Witthuhn said. “This is unacceptable. We need to know what to do and how to do it before any equipment enters the site.”
NextEra is still looking for a buyer of the proposed solar farm, and that they still need a permit from the Public Service Commission before they can start building.
“A representative from NextEra told me that they still need a permit and a buyer,” Witthuhn said. “The way it works is that NextEra just builds the project and then sells it right away to another entity. They want that entity lined up before they build.”
A speaker who identified as working in the data industry but did not give his name told the board that his concern is that a possible buyer could be a data center company.
“I work at a giant data center; my biggest concern about this solar farm is that there is a big substation there, which is very lucrative to anyone wanting to build a data center,” he said. “It wouldn’t be unheard of for an entity to buy the solar farm and then put a small nuclear reactor site on it to power a data center.”
Residents also voiced their concerns about a potential buyer possibly expanding the solar site through prescriptive rights and eminent domain.
“Those are always possibilities when it comes to utilities,” Witthuhn said.
The board encouraged residents to express their opinions about the Fox Solar Project to the Public Service Commission and to state and federal lawmakers. The Fox Solar Project is docket number 9833-CE-100.
Near the end of the meeting, Town Clerk Erin Mooers read a letter that the board sent to the Public Service Commission, which was written by state Rep. Elijah Behnke.
“NextEra keeps talking about being ‘good neighbors,’ but when push comes to shove, the state makes this decision, not Morgan,” Behnke wrote. “The town gets stuck with the consequences while having almost no say in whether it happens. That is backwards. Morgan residents have voted, petitioned and packed town halls. If you ignore all that and approve this project anyway, you’re basically telling rural communities their voices don’t count.”
