Photo provided The Toyota Material Handling entrance is shown.
A local manufacturer has received approval by the Columbus and Bartholomew County Board of Zoning Appeals Hearing Officer for variances on new solar panels that will provide power to a nearby plant.
Toyota Material Handling has received approval for the solar array, which is an accessory structure, to be located in a front yard and for a fence in a front yard to be 8 feet tall, which is 4.5 feet taller than the standard maximum height. The subject property for the project is 5620 S. County Road 175W in Columbus.
Assistant planning director Melissa Begley, who serves as the hearing officer, said planning staff felt that both requests met the necessary criteria, and the department will follow up with a letter of confirmation.
“After a decision has been made at this meeting, anybody that might disagree with that decision technically has a window of five days to appeal that to our office,” she said at the June 13 hearing officer meeting. “And if that were to happen, again, we would transfer that item to the full board within that next two-week period.”
As of Friday morning, the department had not received any appeals.
According to a variance application from Toyota and Emergent Solar Energy, a commercial solar development firm headquartered in West Lafayette, the plan is to install a “960-kilowatt peak fixed-tilt ground solar array” in an empty lot located in the frontage of TMH Plant #3 along County Road 175W, with a footprint of 2.28 acres.
Toyota Material Handling will be the owner and operator of the solar system and main “off-taker” of the energy it generates. In the event that there is any minimal excess power produced by the array, it would be exported across the REMC utility meter and purchased under a solar interconnection agreement.
“This solar array will produce 1,438,152kWh’s of clean energy per year, which will directly replace electricity from the grid that would have been produced in a coal-fire plant,” the firm wrote. “The clean energy provided to the Toyota plant could be considered a benefit to the local community. If this solar project does not provide a net tangible benefit to the community, then it certainly is not a detriment to the welfare of the community.”
Per the variance application, an 8-foot chain link fence is needed to “eliminate public safety concerns,” prevent intruders from entering the solar pv array footprint, and protect the company’s investment in renewable energy.
