Anti-Solar Group Meets With Commissioner

The fight of the Denton/Snipesville area residents to stop the spread of solar farms in Jeff Davis County came to a head last Tuesday in the May meeting of the Jeff Davis County Commission. And it appears they’ve got what they wanted …. for now.
The Commissioners voted to amend the recently created county Land Use Ordinance to state that no more solar farms be allowed in Jeff Davis County unless it is for personal use.
But the decision didn’t come easily.
When Commissioner Vann Wooten brought up the matter, he made a motion to amend the county’s Land Use Ordinance to not allow any solar farms over 10 acres in the county. That motion almost failed for lack of a second. Chairman Hank Hobbs asked three times for a second before Commissioner James Benjamin seconded the motion. When the vote came, the motion failed with Commissioners Ricky Crosby and James Emory Tate voting against the motion and Hobbs abstaining.
Then Crosby made a motion to state that no more solar farms be allowed in Jeff Davis County unless for personal use. That motion passed with Crosby, Wooten and Commissioner James Benjamin voting “yes,” Tate voting “no” and Hobbs abstaining.
But Tate still seemed uneasy about the decision and suggested that the matter be brought to a county-wide vote and let the citizens decide. He put that in the form of a motion but the motion died for a lack of a second.
Prior to the commissioners’ decision on the solar farms issue, Becky Hutto addressed the group sharing with them an online petition she had created that gathered 685 signatures from people who wanted no more solar panels in Jeff Davis County. She said that 5,900 acres of farmland in the county had been taken up with solar panels and there is a project under consideration to put another 2,500 acres into a solar farm.
Hutto said her community had been invaded by solar panels with no benefits to the citizens.
Similar petitions have been created for residents of the Rhonda Coleman Road area in opposition to the Brooker Trail Solar Project that is being proposed in that area.
She claimed that the influence of money brought about the solar projects, saying, “This is not green energy, it is greed energy” and further claimed there was a “great conflict of interest.”
Hutto was accompanied at the meeting by a group of citizens who have also attended meetings of the Jeff Davis County Solar Committee and the Joint Development Authority to raise the same objections with those bodies.
Late in the meeting, the commissioners heard from citizens who had signed up to address the commission. Most of those signed up chose not to speak after the commissioners had already voted to not allow more solar farms in the county. Citizens Milton Coleman, Natalie Miller, Brandon Lewis and Stanley Land expressed their appreciation for the commissioners’ decision.
But Grant Gainer, whose family’s property had been chosen for a pending solar farm, took a different stance. Saying he had been talking about the project for the last 15 years and that he understood why the citizens were upset with the Silicon Ranch solar projects that led to the unrest, he found it troubling that he could not use the land that’s been in his family for over 50 years, “just because Silicon Ranch is a bad company.”
Gainer said, “It troubles me that they (opponents of the project) have not looked at the project. They haven’t even seen the plans.”
[EDITOR’S NOTE: The project proposed to be placed on the Gainer family land is with NextEra Energy, Inc. The project that has caused so much citizen unrest was with Silicon Ranch Corporation. When the Denton/Snipesville area citizens attended the latest meeting of the Joint Development Authority, JDA Chairman Jimmy McLeod told them they couldn’t vote on the project because they had not seen the plans and couldn’t vote on something they hadn’t seen.]
Gainer added that by turning down the project on his property, the commissioners were turning down $30 million annually in tax revenues for the schools and the county.
In other action, the commissioners ….
…. agreed to stay with the same medical plan with Millennial Specialty Insurance.
…. agreed to pay for high dental plan and vision plan for employees only.
…. heard from County Administrator Heather Scott who shared with the Board that she and County Clerk Jayme Crosby were working with the Health Department to set up a Committee to work on updating the current Dangerous Dog Ordinance.
…. approved a recommendation from Scott to revise the current Board policy term to remove the requirement that all volunteer board members would serve a designated amount of time, sit out a year, and then they could serve again. The county had been asked to eliminate the need to sit out a year.
…. heard from Fonda Ussery with Friends of Towns Bluff who gave the Commissioners a list of requested items they would like to see done at Towns Bluff. The list included 1. Need a permanent, full-time maintenance person; 2. need playground upgrade by adding toddler, small children area and a small playground with handicap access; 4. Need signage; 5. Need advertising; 6. Upgrade entrance; 7. Upgrade existing bath house; 8. Two family bathroom facility; 9. Road from 221 entrance re-graded and re-graveled; 10. Trails need to be brought up to walking and running standards; 11. Park shelter, need bathrooms; 12. Need TV and internet service
…. heard from Road Superintendent Eddie Bush who updated the Board on the Road Department. Mr. Bush said they have been busy and that the graders would be running about a day behind.
…. heard from Fire Chief Charles Wasdin who shared that the EMA was currently working with Plant Hatch for the upcoming FEMA evaluation, gave an update regarding the Fire Department and presented the Board a list of quotes for a new mower. The board asked that Wasdin get sealed RFP’s for a lawn mower for the Fire/EMA Department.
…. heard from Scott who presented the Commissioners the financial status of the year. She stated that 93.4% of budgeted income has been received and 84.1% of budget expenditures had been spent. She also gave an update on the EMS building and the FY 2024 Budget.
…. approved allowing a lease to be developed for us of the fairgrounds for tractor pulls.
…. heard from Hobbs who requested the Boards approval to allow him to negotiate a commercial lease with Sweet Onion Animal Protection Society for the dog pens on Pat Dixon Road. The commissioners approved the request.
…. agreed to grant Hobbs permission to talk with the new health department specialist to be able to write tickets and assess fines, etc. within the County.