Huntingburg Council approves Crossvine Solar Project settlement

The Huntingburg City Council voted unanimously at the regular meeting held on Tuesday to approve a settlement agreement with Crossvine AES, despite strong opposition from residents concerned about safety risks and property values.

The decision came after the city’s special counsel, Joshua Claybourn, warned that Huntingburg’s moratorium on solar development sits “on thin ice” legally and that litigation against the multi-billion dollar corporation would likely fail while costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The settlement includes several concessions from AES, including a six-foot berm or comparable vegetation screening along neighboring properties, increased setbacks of 100 feet from property lines and 250 feet from residences, and incident monitoring equipment for the battery energy storage systems. The company also committed to providing emergency services equipment, trucks and training.

Residents living near the AES Crossvine solar project voiced deep concerns about the safety and financial toll the development will bring with a lot of focus on the battery energy storage system (BESS). Residents in attendance at the meeting asked the council how residents would be warned in time to evacuate, who would pay for displacement costs, and whether fire departments had adequate training to respond, noting that standard fire trucks are largely useless against BESS fires.

The project’s approval process has been complicated by jurisdictional issues. While Huntingburg can regulate solar panels within its extraterritorial jurisdiction, the BESS is located in county territory, outside the city’s control.

“Even with the best ordinance the only thing we can do is control and regulate what’s within our extraterritorial jurisdiction,” said City Attorney Phil Schneider. “The battery energy storage systems are not within our territories. There’s nothing we could do even if we had a perfect ordinance.”

This jurisdictional split has frustrated residents who feel their concerns about the battery systems have been inadequately addressed by county officials. The county commissioners have approved a moratorium on solar developments but, similar to Huntingburg, acknowledged they are not in a position to stop the AES Crossvine project.

The legal challenges facing the city became clear as Claybourn explained the limited leverage available. The original development plan had expired, but Crossvine refiled a new application and threatened litigation, asserting vested rights under Indiana law.

“The moratorium is, in effect, a zoning ordinance, and zoning laws require a pretty strict method to enforce them,” Claybourn said. “This application came in before then. And so our strongest leverage point, which was them missing that deadline, you know, that had a short fuse because once they reapply, that leverage goes away.”

Mayor Elkins acknowledged the community’s frustration while defending the council’s efforts.

“I’ve never seen more passion, more effort put into getting the best project and the safest project achievable that we could by law from these members right here,” Elkins said. “We hit the limits actually probably exceeded some of the concessions that we thought we were going to get in the beginning.”

After hearing from the residents in attendance for more than an hour, the council moved forward with making a decision.

“We are not confident in our position in litigation, and they feel pretty confident in their position,” said City Attorney Phil Schneider, explaining the difficult choice facing the city. “The only reason they’re offering to settle is because they don’t want the delay of litigation.”

The council also voted to rescind the moratorium on commercial solar facilities and directed the planning commission to study regulations for solar facilities, battery storage systems and data centers. The city has amended its development ordinance to require special-use exceptions for commercial solar projects, which must pass strict tests and undergo public hearings before the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Council members expressed personal opposition to the project while explaining their legal constraints.

“I’m not in favor of them, never have been,” Elkins said. “Solar farms make the rich richer and the poor poorer.”

Council member Pam Bolte emphasized the difficult position facing elected officials. “This isn’t a permitting issue or a permitting meeting that we’re deciding if we’re going to let them come or if we’re not,” she said. “We’re basically at the position that our choice is, do we accept this settlement, or do we go to litigation? And as a city, we are the stewards of the city’s money, and to go into litigation, as much as we personally want to fight this, we just can’t afford it.”

The settlement represents the final resolution of a dispute that began when Crossvine’s original development plan was denied by the planning director and upheld by the Board of Zoning Appeals, leading to the current legal negotiations.

“I would like to say something to all of you folks. You guys are our friends and neighbors. I can’t speak for the other council members. I can only speak from my heart,” said Councilman Jeff Bounds. “I drive through Duff, and it breaks my heart. We’ve tried our best. We’ve hired counsel, with all of us feeling like, how can we stop this? How can we put an end to it? And we quickly learned that we don’t have the power, we don’t have the leverage, we don’t have legal standing.”

He said the negotiated settlement is the best they can get.

“I know that that doesn’t make you happy; doesn’t make me happy either,” Bounds said.