Boone County asks staff to study solar-lease proposal for county land near landfill

Boone County officials discussed a private company's proposal to lease county-owned land near the landfill for additional solar panels and directed staff to gather technical and legal information for further consideration.

County staff member Ms. Stone said the company, identified in the meeting as Synergy, had contacted county staff about placing solar farms on county property. “So before staff spent any more time, looking into it, the state's attorney has also done some research on this,” Stone said, and she recommended bringing the matter to the board for direction.

Chairman Carl Johnson framed the committee question narrowly: whether the county should investigate the proposal further. “I don't think it's the chairman's duty to say yes or no if somebody wants to pay the county money for something or to do something,” Johnson said, adding the decision belongs to the board.

State's Attorney Maybelle told the committee her office’s opinion is that the county can lease property it owns for a public purpose and that a solar project can qualify as a public purpose. “Our office's opinion is that you can do this,” she said. The attorney also cautioned that earlier legislative changes had affected the county's ability to lease certain property and that pending legislation discussed by a committee member could create additional constraints.

Board members raised practical and regulatory questions: the lease rate discussed in the meeting was about $2,600 per acre per year; the county engineer estimated the potentially available area at roughly 28 acres (depending on exact parcel boundaries), which, if fully leased at that rate, would be about $72,000 annually. Members asked staff to provide a lease-eligibility score (referred to in the meeting as a “LE score” or similar), topographic and right-of-way constraints, whether adjacent neighborhoods have septic systems that could restrict relocation of septic fields, and any utility or permitting issues. One member noted a potential right-of-way/purchase need of roughly seven acres reported by staff.

Thornberry and other members pointed to pending legislative language reported in a news article that could restrict wind- or solar-farm construction within a three-mile radius of a municipality unless permission is given; staff said they would track statutory limits and pending legislation. Members also asked the county engineer to map usable acreage and confirm any encumbrances.

The committee did not vote on a lease or enter negotiations. Instead, members asked staff to return next month with the lease score, acreage mapping, and other technical information.

Ending: Staff will collect the LE score, map proposed acreage and return to the committee next month for further discussion before any leasing decision is made.