Mount Carmel council authorizes letter of intent for 40‑year solar lease at former Snap‑on site

Mount Carmel city leaders on a special meeting authorized city staff to sign a nonbinding letter of intent to participate in a proposed 40‑year lease of the former Snap‑on property to host a community solar installation, city officials said.

The move is intended to let the developers apply for grant funding that requires an anchor‑tenant letter by mid‑October. A city official said the developers project the installation as a $5,000,000 project that would deliver roughly $40,000 in energy savings to the city each year for the first 15 years — about $600,000 over that period — while serving about 130 low‑income households and qualifying nonprofits through Mount Carmel Public Utility.

The council’s authorization was limited to signing a nonbinding letter of intent; the city would return to the council for any final lease or contract if the grant application succeeds. "They basically have to have a letter of intent to participate as an anchor tenant, by…