With talk of a solar farm heating up in Porter County, the county commissioners are looking to tighten the county's regulations.
NextEra Energy has been securing leases with landowners for a 200-megawatt solar farm in the Malden area. On Tuesday, the commissioners called on the advisory plan commission to repeal or revise the part of the unified development ordinance dealing with solar farms.
Commissioner Jim Biggs felt that, right now, development is out of control. "We could very well be waking up five or six years from now, and the southern part of our county looks like something out of a sci-fi movie," Biggs said.
But County Attorney Scott McClure did not believe any potential changes would apply to land already under contract. "Depending on the lease, depending on the land, depending on the zoning, those things did not need additional zoning approval," McClure noted.
Biggs said that puts the county at a huge disadvantage, since it has no way of knowing how much land has already been leased.
