Commissioners considering banning large wind and solar in county’s townships

Portage County’s commissioners have the authority to designate all 18 townships off-limits to large wind and solar installations, but they’ve decided not to act alone.

Instead, they’ve asked each township’s elected officials to indicate if they want economically significant wind farms, large wind farms or large solar facilities in their townships.

The issue is by no means new. In 2023, Shalersville trustees passed a resolution giving the county authority to grant such restrictions. Nelson, Freedom, Hiram and Mantua townships soon followed suit.

Not wanting to hold separate hearings for each township, in September, the commissioners emailed trustees throughout the county. Atwater, Paris, Randolph and Rootstown trustees soon expressed interest. A roomful of residents attended an Oct. 28 Atwater trustee meeting about the matter, prompting that township’s leaders to sign on.

“We had a room full of about 60 people that all said, ‘No,’” Atwater Trustee Charlie Harris said. “Everybody that showed up didn't want it. Not one person wanted it. The people spoke, so we listened.”

Large wind farms and large solar facilities are defined under state law as those that connect to the electrical grid and are designed to operate at 50 or more megawatts. Economically significant wind farms are designed to operate 5 to 50 megawatts.

To compare, a typical homeowner’s solar installation produces 1 to 10 kilowatts.

'Health, safety, welfare concerns'

The commissioners’ draft resolution cites health, safety and welfare concerns associated with such facilities. Those concerns, which might include issues like fires, noise complaints and ground contamination, may or may not be valid.

But Todd Peetz, director of the Portage County Regional Planning Commission, downplayed most concerns about solar and wind farms as rumors.

“If there were really big health and safety concerns with wind farms and or solar, we would hear all about it and we’d know about it,” he said.

Large wind and solar farms pose “numerous potential impacts on users and property owners in the vicinity,” the commissioners' draft resolution states, and could impact property owners who wish to develop their land.

County Commissioner Mike Tinlin told The Portager he’d heard of one Ohio county where property owners near a proposed wind farm were powerless to stop it.

“I think if somebody has property, they can do whatever they want with it, but we have to get along with our neighbors,” he said.

People are also concerned about what Peetz called the “commercialization of rural communities.” Large wind and solar farms require at least a substation to connect to, and townships that don't have one handy may not see adding one, even on the installation’s property, as “consistent with the rural character,” he said.

Commissioner Sabrina Christian-Bennett said the impact on property values is a significant concern she often hears.

"A lot of people say they’re not aesthetically pleasing to look at. They're not going to improve their property values. They may decrease them. That’s the biggest concern we hear from a lot of people,” Christian-Bennet said.

Having last year attended a meeting in the state capitol about wind farms, Tinlin also wonders what the long-term consequences might be.

“My opinion is they have a 5 to 8 or 10-year life span,” he said. ”What do you do with them? They’re having problems figuring out how to dispose of them or otherwise recycle them.”

Tinlin said the life span of solar facilities is longer — solar panels remain functional for 25-30 years — but he still has questions.

“What do you do with them once their life expectancy is up? Do you bury them? Do they put off toxins of some kind? I truly don’t know,” he said.

Christian-Bennett wondered if eroding solar panels might seep chemicals into the ground and eventually contaminate water sources. She also wondered who will handle decommissioning the installations if the company goes out of business before the solar farm reaches the end of its life span. (Industry associations and the EPA consider solar panels as non-hazardous and safe.)

“Those big panels, they're not easily recyclable. It creates long-term waste and safety management challenges,” she said.

Potential solar farm fires also have her attention, as do potential shock risks.

Rootstown Township Trustee Dave McIntyre said most rural fire departments do not have the equipment to douse fires that may occur at solar facilities.

“You can't just put water on them,” McIntyre said. “Those fires don't just go out.”

Concerns about shocks and fire at solar facilities can be cast aside because the installations are electrically grounded just like buildings are, Peetz said. Though the panels can be damaged in storms or by vandalism, they are designed so potentially carcinogenic chemicals are rendered instantly inert, he explained.

“I think the contamination concern is overblown,” he said.

Christian-Bennett also expressed concerns about structural failures for wind turbines in particular, saying that if that happens, there is no telling where the blade may land. And should the turbines ignite, high-altitude fires would pose significant challenges for first responders, she said.

Even if a turbine is working properly, she suggested that ice can accumulate on the blades and be thrown off at high speeds, creating a hazard for nearby people and property.

A 2013 U.S. EPA report acknowledged that “ice and rime formation on turbine blades can result in turbine failure,” but a heating system or special coating on the blade’s surface can reduce the risk of failure.

“However, the potential for ice to be thrown great distances during windy conditions is a potential health hazard,” the report stated. “A recommended safety zone should be factored into the design process to reduce public access, potential risks and sound.”

Christian-Bennett said she’d heard that people who live near such turbines have reported sleep disruptions and dizziness they blame on the installation’s low-frequency noise or shadow-flicker effects.

The “shadow-flicker” effect of wind turbines is real and could affect people who suffer from epilepsy, Peetz said. And bird strikes can happen and the turbines can catch fire, but the “windmills” can be sited so they fall on the wind farm property, not anyone else’s, he said.

As far as noise, a 2005 U.S. Department of Energy report acknowledges that turbine blades produce a “whooshing sound” as they encounter air turbulence in the air, but stated the background noise of the wind masks it.

“An operating modern wind farm at a distance of 750 feet to 1,000 feet is no more noisy than a kitchen refrigerator,” the report states.

Next steps

Windham Trustee Dan Burns said he hadn’t seen the commissioners’ proposed resolution and wondered if it had arrived after the township’s most recent meeting. The issue, he said, hasn’t been on the trustees’ radar for years.

“My personal thought is people can do what they like on their property,” he said. “If you can make some money on your property and it doesn't harm anyone else, it’s just like oil wells or brine wells.”

The resolution has reached Edinburg, where Trustee Tim Pfile said he does not like the look of large windmill and solar installations and wondered who would handle the eventual removals.

“I don’t like telling people what they can and can't do with their property, but I will end up supporting it [the commissioners' draft resolution] as much as I hate doing that,” he said.
Suffield Trustee Jeff Eldreth characterized wind and solar installations as “worthless” and "eyesores." The township will soon officially weigh in, he predicted.

“I’m kind of torn because I think landowners should be able to do whatever they want to do,” he said. “Who am I to tell somebody that owns 1,000 acres that they can’t do it?”

Mostly, people don’t want to be “guinea pigs” for large wind and solar farms, Christian-Bennett said, adding that “they want all the kinks to be worked out” before they might feel comfortable with such facilities.

Christian-Bennett noted that even if trustees restrict or outright ban wind and solar farms now, they can always revisit the matter when they feel more comfortable.

As the townships continue to weigh in, commissioners are recording their responses and plan a public meeting sometime in 2026.