00:00:00:03 - 00:00:19:28
Stephanie Wiechmann
At a contentious three hour meeting in November, the Delaware County Muncie Metropolitan Plan Commission increased the setback for non-participating properties, with homes on them from 200 to 500ft. That setback starts at the property line, and solar advocates tell county commissioners this week that the provision will drastically limit the number of panels that can be put on participating land.

00:00:20:03 - 00:00:25:00
Stephanie Wiechmann
Robert Koester heads the Center for Energy Research Education Service at Ball State University.

00:00:25:04 - 00:00:36:20
Robert Koester
Property line setbacks instead of line-of-sight dwelling setbacks is a bad neighbor policy, because it limits the productive use of adjacent land.

00:00:36:25 - 00:00:44:13
Stephanie Wiechmann
Muncie State Representative Sue Errington says the 500ft setback is much higher than the state recommends in a bill passed in 2022.

00:00:44:18 - 00:00:56:13
Sue Errington
If there is a dwelling on that neighboring property, the state calls for the distance to be 250ft from the outer edge of the solar array to the nearest point on the outer wall of the dwelling.

00:00:56:15 - 00:01:04:07
Stephanie Wiechmann
But County Commissioner James King pointed out to Errington that the bill created voluntary recommendations, not requirements that would supersede county law.

00:01:04:13 - 00:01:15:10
James King
Everything that you’re telling us, the state could have created a bill – what each county could have had to go by.  Instead, you made recommendations for the local officials to create their own ordinances, correct?

00:01:15:13 - 00:01:30:03
Stephanie Wiechmann
In 2023, more than 50 counties had solar ordinances on their books, and a Purdue University study in 2022 showed none of them meet all the criteria in the voluntary state guidelines. In Muncie, Stephanie Wiechmann, IPR news.