BY STEFANIE WESSELL and GABRIEL McVEY
Gazette Newspapers
JEFFERSON – The Ashtabula County commissioners fielded questions from resident Stephen Magda about the process of the County creating a map of where potential utility-scale wind-power projects could be located during their meeting on Thursday, Sept. 3.
For some background, Apex Clean Energy, based in Charlottesville, Va., is in what it characterizes as the early stages of developing Station Wind, a planned 300-megawatt wind power project using 50 to 70 turbines erected across much of the eastern portion of Ashtabula County.
Apex has been leasing land in the county toward a goal of 30,000 acres.
The county commissioners have stated they wish to give townships a say in whether these types of projects are allowed in their area.
Ohio Senate Bill 52 is a 2021 state law that significantly altered the approval process for utility-scale renewable energy developments by granting the county commissioners veto power over wind and solar projects. The law overrides the public utility exemption, giving the county authority to prohibit or limit the size of large wind and solar facilities.
Counties can proactively designate restricted areas where wind and solar developments are entirely banned or establish energy development districts where they are permitted.
Rather than make the decision from Jefferson, Board President Casey Kozlowski has said the commissioners wanted to inform townships on what SB 52 calls for and get the trustees’ input before assembling a map for Ashtabula County.
SB 52 governs “economically significant” projects of between 5-50 megawatts and “utility scale” projects of 50 megawatts and over, giving local townships the option to decide whether the entire township is open for renewable energy development, part of it or to close it altogether. Projects of 5 megawatts or less are governed by local zoning codes.
The county can also have a project-specific response, according to Kozlowski. Until the county’s map is finalized, the county will operate on a project-specific basis, he added.
The commissioners are asking each township to identify areas where utility-scale projects should be restricted, if any, considering the needs of agriculture, economic development, residential areas, natural resources, local infrastructure and community identity, according to Kozlowski.
Various townships in the county have been holding public hearings and passing resolutions on designating restricted areas where wind and solar developments are entirely banned or establishing energy-development districts where they are permitted.
The commissioners will then compile the information for the unincorporated areas and create a countywide resolution and map, hold more public hearings and pass a resolution of their own. Incorporated areas have their own home-rule authority governing development, according to Kozlowski.
While the County had a Tuesday, Sept. 1, deadline for submission to the County of these resolutions, that was not a hard deadline, according to Kozlowski.
“All the townships haven’t voted yet,” Board Vice President Kathryn Whittington said. “We’re still waiting on resolutions.”
Kozlowski said there’s six with no response, but a couple of them may not be passing a resolution, and a couple are in motion.
“We anticipate getting a couple within the next week or two and then probably starting the process in a couple weeks,” Kozlowski said.
Whittington said Orwell Township is one that had called and requested to go past the Sept. 1st date.
Magda asked about the ability of citizens to seek a referendum petition for establishing extra restrictions or establishing a restricted area.
Kozlowski explained that SB 52 allows for a referendum on the map that is adopted by the Board of Commissioners.
Residents can challenge a decision to allow or block a project by gathering signatures to place a referendum on the local ballot. A referendum can be filed within 30 days of map publication, with an 8-percent signature threshold.
“It could be a thumbs up or a thumbs down to the adopted map,” Kozlowski said. “Say hypothetically 25 out of the 27 townships restrict – you’re going to be voting to uphold that, or to vote it down. If you vote it down, it takes you back to where we are today where there is no restrictions at all.”
Commissioner J.P. Ducro IV noted that most of the resolutions they have currently are fully restricted.
“We have one that has a partial restriction, which we have to dig in to a little bit further, and then one was no restrictions,” Ducro said.
He said the commissioners have to work with their GIS department to determine what the partial restrictions look like, so they’re clear on any map that’s presented.
“Before we would even adopt a map, we would have at least one, if not two, public hearings to have people come and offer community input on the map that we’re considering adopting. Then we could consider making modifications to that map that we ultimately then adopt, and then once the adoption would happen, then there’s the opportunity for the referendum on that adopted map,” Ducro said.
Kozlowski said a utility-scale wind or solar project requires so much land.
“With hypothetically 24 or 25 townships of 27 voting to restrict, there’s no way a project of that scale could ever happen,” Kozlowski said. “You require, as you can see, so much land. Under the potential Apex project, they need 30,000 acres to put windmills on approximately 300 acres.”
He said “a large swath of land is needed.”
“If 25 out of the 27 townships ultimately restrict, there’s no way they’ll ever meet that land quota,” Kozlowski said.
If that quota is not met, Whittington said it’s their understanding that any leases become null and void.
Ducro said even if only half the townships restrict, and there is enough land, that doesn’t necessarily mean a project will happen.
“A project still has to go through a very extensive public process. It still would have to be vetted through the Power Siting Board. It still would have to come before the commissioners for us to approve or deny – not us specifically, but the Board of Commissioners,” Ducro said. “It’s not like this map is the end all, be all. The map just kind of sets the tone for a company that’s considering a project like this to determine their risk or what the likelihood is that a project could potentially have the opportunity to move forward.”
Kozlowski said they have had months of discussion on the issue, which he thinks has been healthy.
“To be honest, there wasn’t much public discussion happening about wind and solar development, and they were kind of under the radar securing leases, not a lot of people knowing about it. When we outlined this process, it put it in a public forum, and here everybody had an opportunity to learn more…At the end of the day, overwhelmingly, the county is going to be restricted for those levels of a project,” Kozlowski said.
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