Responding to feedback from their constituents and county townships, Stark County commissioners voted on July 10 to prohibit the construction of large solar and wind projects in most unincorporated portions of Stark County.

The vote by commissioners was unanimous. The reason for this, according to Commissioner Richard Regula, was because that is what Stark County townships wanted.

“We asked them what they wanted, did they want them or didn't want them,” said Regula. “And 14 of the 17 townships came back to us and said that they did not want any large solar facilities. So we voted against them in 14 of the 17 townships.”

According to Drenda Keesee, the GOP candidate for Knox County Commission, “Eighteen Knox townships have made resolutions against industrial solar fields, along with the Mount Vernon City Council.” However, the actions of the townships have not spurred Knox County commissioners to adopt a resolution prohibiting  large scale solar.

The Knox County commission previously adopted a resolution banning large-scale wind projects in the county’s unincorporated areas, but decided to take a case by case approach on large scale solar. At that time, commissioners Bill Purcel and Thom Collier made it clear they wanted input from the county’s townships on the solar issue.

“We have asked [Knox County Prosecutor] Chip McConville to reach out to all of the townships,” Collier said. “Any township that wants their township to be in an exclusionary zone should forward their resolution to the commissioners no later than February. We will hold a public meeting and allow any township to be an exclusionary zone if that is the preference of their constituents.”

Pursel echoed this sentiment. 

“At the time, only Liberty Township and Morgan Township said they were opposed to solar in their township,” he said. “Because we were getting all kinds of responses, both positive and negative, we referred it back to the township.”

After the recent vote in Stark County, Mount Vernon News reached out to commissioners Collier, Pursel, and Teresa Bemiller asking why they have not yet held the promised public meeting. None of the commissioners responded.

From the perspective of Commissioner Regula, adopting the solar resolution in Stark County was the right thing to do.

“As a county commissioner, you listen to your citizens,” he said. “When you have to make a choice one way or another, you defer to them. They're the ones that elected you to represent them. And that's what I did.”