A group of 12 to 15 individuals came to the Clinton County Commissioners meeting Monday morning at the Frankfort/Clinton County Municipal Airport to voice their opposition to the proposed solar farm project going up east of Rossville.
Christie Smith of Rossville spoke to the audience on all the problems this could cause plus they could be hampered if they had to leave their home in case of a fire.
Commissioner Josh Uitts was asked his reaction to their guests.
“It’s nice to see folks come to the meeting today and express their opinion,” said Uitts. “It’s something we rarely see. Like I said in the meeting I think I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve had a large group of people passionate about a topic. It was good to see them. It was nice to talk to them and hear what they had to say. It was also good for us.”
The project will potentially cover 263 acres owned by Ceres Farms LLC in South Bend plus the company owns over 1,100 acres in Clinton County and does have local ties to measure the impact of a solar farm on the community of Rossville. It has also been reported that this would be a 35-year land lease.
“Like I said in the meeting, this is a little bit different situation than we had with Hardy Hills (solar farm project),” said Uitts. “Hardy Hills was a group of farmers that lived here in Clinton County, owned their land. These were legacy farms and that’s what they wanted to do with their land.”
Uitts added he is a staunch support of individual property rights.
During the meeting, both Uitts and Commissioner Bert Weaver stated they are against this project.