St. Joseph County passes amendments to solar ordinance to guarantee property value

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. (WSBT) — There are big changes to how solar farms are developed in St. Joseph County.

On Tuesday, the St. Joseph County Area Plan Commission passed multiple amendments to the county’s solar ordinance to guarantee property value for homeowners near new solar developments.

There was a lengthy discussion from the commission ahead of the 7-1 vote to approve the changes.

There was a packed house at the County-City Building waiting to see if non-industrial large-scale solar developments would need to compensate property owners who see a reduction in property value.

The decision means incoming large-scale solar developers must compensate homeowners within one mile of a solar development who see a property value reduction.

But there are exemptions for solar farms already under development.

Tuesday’s decision will primarily impact new developments looking at special use rezoning.

One member of the area plan commission says this decision is one way to not only protect farmland but also those living in the surrounding area.

“When something that is going to be put next door will affect basically the whole community and indicates that property values could go down or it changed the esthetic of the community, I think then something like this needs to be put in place to help protect that landowner,” said Eugene Matzat, Area Plan Commission Member/Agricultural Interests Representative.

Coming up at 10 and 11, WSBT 22 will dig deeper into how the vote impacts the area and have community reaction.