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.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

28% of what?

Not sure of the percentage, but for us, it was of the total cost.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

Once we made the decision to install solar, nobody could say anything to change our minds.
With that said, we didn't want to come home to an ugly looking set up on our rooftop, so we opted for all black panels, and it blended in much nicer than the silver grid panels. We lived in a working class neighborhood, 50/50 white collar. After installation, for years people were coming up to us saying how great it looked. Not one negative comment. Several neighbors installed on their rooftops, all in the black panels.

Now a farm is another story...

 

[orezok]

Some people say that I am being subsidized by other electric users. I wonder if those same people think it’s OK for gas & oil, pharmaceuticals and farmers to be subsidized by MY tax dollars.

And, if you own stock in those and many others you are benefiting from those same subsidies.

Hmmm

 

[ruffdog]

There are worse things than solar, like big animal farms or a gravel pits. Solar companies generally seek out areas that are a bit of a power desert because rates are more favorable. All of the people in those areas will generally benefit from an extra power resource.

 

[riptides]

Some people have got together in one of our communities and are planning on installing a huge multi-acre solar farm on property adjacent to my daughter's and sister-in-law's property. They will be surrounded to the north and south of their properties and across the road. Their property value will go to nearly nothing.

Has anybody fought the installation of one of these?

Any ideas?

RSKY

LouNY mentioned "good agricultural soil". You might want to sit in on your local governments planning commissions and figure out strategies on zoning uses. Then get with your local governments representatives and figure out which way they are leaning. This solar installs always come with the developer offering to fill someone's coffers with revenues. Yet...local taxes always seem to increase.

Then if you really want to get into it, you can always approach "green" ideology organizations and get them on your side. Solar usually hooks up to grids in the area. And grids require transmission lines, offsets, right-of-ways, easements and maybe "more land".

To those saying "my property" the infringement starts when you neighbor sells and you have 120 foot transmission towers running through your land.

These things have to take the community and individual interests to heart. And your local government should have a strategy on which way they are going and what areas are opportune for this type of development.

 

[LouNY]

There are worse things than solar, like big animal farms or a gravel pits. Solar companies generally seek out areas that are a bit of a power desert because rates are more favorable. All of the people in those areas will generally benefit from an extra power resource.

Of the several large scale solar systems in my area (I won't call them solar farms) none of the power is slated for this area it is all slated for NYC use.

 

[oldnslo]

Like 2manyrocks stated talk to your county zoning agents to see what if any regulations there are for “industrial- commercial” solar farm vs home owner. I had to do this when the property adjacent to me was being considered for windmill installations. The zoning regulations where very specific and provided the information necessary to talk with intelligence about my options.

Like everything new no one knows what the long term effects will be from a large scale solar farm.

 

[bcp]

Their property will become dark all day long and their plants will die as the solar panels suck away all the sunlight.

A US town has rejected plans for solar panels amid fears they would 'suck up all the energy from the sun'

A retired science teacher said she was concerned the panels would prevent plants in the area from photosynthesizing,

www.businessinsider.com

Bruce

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

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.

Again...reading comprehension problems. Where did I say people are at these sites 24/7? Re-read and you see "24/7 ACCESS".

 

[sea2summit]

Some people say that I am being subsidized by other electric users. I wonder if those same people think it’s OK for gas & oil, pharmaceuticals and farmers to be subsidized by MY tax dollars.

And, if you own stock in those and many others you are benefiting from those same subsidies.

Hmmm

Nope, that’s not okay either.
Neither is first time home buyer help.
Housing help.
Food stamps.
Cancer research.
Disaster relief.
Pretty much anything else.

Common defense and interstate commerce is all they should be spending money on. If the free market wants the rest, then the free market will pay for it.