Developers have apparently pulled the plug on a proposed solar energy farm that faced strong opposition from nearby landowners and became mired in litigation after conflicting zoning decisions earlier this year.
Plans for the proposed 1,880-acre Carina solar farm have been withdrawn, according a court order that also ends two lawsuits over zoning for the proposed solar farm. An attorney for local landowners who opposed the development called the court order a victory.
“They’re obviously very pleased with the results,” said Fort Wayne attorney Jason Kuchmay, whose clients included more than two dozen nearby landowners who opposed the project that was partially in Columbus’ zoning jurisdiction and partially in Bartholomew County’s.
California-based Carina Solar Inc., a division of Samsung C&T, had proposed to build a solar farm on about 1,880 acres of land leased from more than two dozen local landowners. The solar farm was proposed for an area generally south of County Road 100S, west of County Road 525E, east of South Gladstone Avenue and north of County Road 400S in Columbus Township.
Attorneys representing Carina did not immediately respond to a messages seeking comment. However, the court order makes clear the project as presented to local zoning boards will go no further.
A special judge earlier this week dismissed consolidated lawsuits over zoning decisions regarding the proposed solar farm. The order was issued after parties filed a joint stipulation to dismiss the two lawsuits.
“In connection with the dismissal, the parties stipulate and agree that Carina Solar’s application docketed as #CCU-2023-018 is withdrawn and any approval of the referenced application by the City of Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals is vacated,” reads an order issued in Bartholomew Circuit Court by Special Judge Matthew Bailey of Decatur County.
While dozens of local landowners had agreed to lease their land for the solar farm project, dozens also opposed its development. After packed public hearings just days apart before the Bartholomew County Board of Zoning Appeals and the Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals in February, the county board denied the application on roughly 1,100 acres in its jurisdiction, but the city board approved the application on about 800 acres in its purview.
The split decisions resulted in separate legal challenges.
Carina Solar claimed in its suit against the county BZA that its denial of an application for a conditional use permit to build the farm “is, among other things, arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, not in accordance with the law … and unsupported by substantial evidence.” Carina asked the court to “enter an order reversing the BZA’s decision and directing the BZA to approve” its application.
Meanwhile, a group of local landowners who objected to the project sued the Columbus BZA, asserting its ruling approving the application was “arbitrary and capricious, unsupported by substantial evidence, not in accordance with the law, in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority or limitations … and without observance of procedure required by law.”
The landowners also asked the court to reverse the city BZA’s decision approving the project on the portion in city zoning jurisdiction.
Bailey ordered the suits consolidated into a single case in June, and his order ending the case came just days after attorneys for Carina and attorneys for the landowners opposing the project filed opening briefs supporting their respective positions.
Before agreeing to withdraw, Carina less than two weeks ago filed a brief saying it had “met and exceeded all application requirements for conditional use approval of a new solar farm. … The County BZA made the wrong finding. Carina Solar was prejudiced by that wrong decision, and this Court can and should correct it.”
Carina argued its project “does not just benefit those owners who consented to the use of their property. The project benefits the entire community and represents an investment exceeding $149 million. … Hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars will come to the community.”
Landowners who sued the Columbus BZA over its zoning approval for the project, however, argued it would negatively impact surrounding property values and that the approval process was faulty because Carina’s application was incomplete.
“Not only should the application have been denied on the merits, but the application never should have proceeded to the public hearing,” opponents argued.
“… Petitioners moved to the country for the quiet, for the view, for the nature, to enjoy their property, and any other number of reasons. They were there first. They did not move to the country to be surrounded by thousands of giant solar panels and all the metal, wiring, and significant electrical machinery and substations that go with the development,” the brief read.
The order dismissing the litigation also cancels a bench trial on the consolidated cases that had been scheduled to begin in October.
The judge noted in dismissing the cases that “each party will bear their own costs and fees.”
