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Council members agree to meet with church landowner after repeated solar solicitations; conservation easement proposed
Summary
At a brief Fairfield Council meeting, members said multiple solar developers have approached a private “church ranch” and agreed to meet the landowner to clarify plans; one council member proposed a conservation easement and public access, but no formal action was taken.
The Fairfield Council opened its regular meeting at 9:16 p.m. and discussed repeated approaches from solar developers seeking to use a privately owned property referred to in the discussion as the “church ranch.” Council member (S3) said multiple companies have approached the town through developers rather than by contacting the landowner directly and urged the council to meet the owner before engaging further with companies.
Council member (S3) said, "they already mentioned their solar company approached her about building solar, more solar on the church ranch," and added these approaches "are always through solar farms" rather than direct requests to the landowner. S2 responded, "I'll see if I can set up a meeting with them," indicating the council would pursue direct contact with the landowner to clarify intentions and next steps.
In the discussion, Council member (S3) described a preference for long-term protection of the property: "I would hope that we could get a very large portion of the church ranch put in a conservation easement to reserve a forever," and added that, if possible, they would allow public walk-in access. Members also asked whether the owner might sell land to a municipal entity and discussed county reserve mechanisms as possible protections.
No formal motion regarding the solar proposals or a conservation easement was made during the meeting. The only formal actions recorded were procedural: Council member (S2) moved to close the meeting at 09:18 p.m.; Council member (S3) seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
The council’s next steps, as stated in the meeting, are to arrange a meeting with the property owner to determine the owner’s plans and to consider preservation options based on that conversation.
