LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A virtually 3,000-acre proposed photo voltaic farm in York County is drawing controversy as a substitute of glare.
The Omaha Public Power District needs to put in photo voltaic panels close to McCool Junction.
But many farmers and different residents are usually not on board with the plan.
That’s why the York County Zoning Board held a public assembly Monday evening.
It needs to listen to opinions earlier than making a closing resolution on the challenge.
Gene Jackson was one of many many York County residents who attended the listening to.
“Would you purchase a home with a photo voltaic panel subsequent to it?” Jackson requested. “They did not give us the reality about what they had been going to do.”
The Okay-Junction Solar Project will present electrical energy to just about 60,000 houses, in line with the OPPD.
And it might additionally generate thousands and thousands of {dollars} in property tax income for McCool Junction Public Schools.
But Jackson thinks the challenge will solely hurt the individuals there.
“You can do extra with the land than what the cash is that they’re speaking about,” he mentioned.
Jackson mentioned the photo voltaic farm would scale back property values and destroy farmland.
He, and plenty of others, consider there’s a higher place for the photo voltaic farm.
“There are all types of different locations to do that,” he mentioned. “Lincoln and Omaha have numerous parking tons and constructing tops which can be a pleasant place to place it. However, they need to cowl prime farmland.”
But one other resident, Genevieve Tonniges, a York County resident, sees the advantages of solar energy within the space.
“I’m all for renewable power,” he mentioned. “And as a sixth-generation farmer, I perceive very effectively that caring for the soil and land is central to what we do as farmers.”
More than that, Tonniges mentioned the challenge will assist appeal to younger individuals to the world.
“I believe that the creation of the photo voltaic challenge is necessary for the neighborhood and another potential buyers in the neighborhood as a result of they may see that the county is open to new funding, open to new industrial alternatives, and open to vary and development,” he mentioned.
The zoning board has proposed laws that may make it tough to put in photo voltaic panels.
Willard Peterson, one other York County resident, hopes the listening to will assist everybody attain a compromise.
“I do not see it as a complete, complete damaging in any respect,” he mentioned. “And if we can assist some, to me, that is value it.”
The board didn’t make any choices Monday. More conferences are deliberate within the challenge.
