Last Updated on November 19, 2019 by cassnetwork
EDITOR’S NOTE: The updated photo above was provided by Inovateus Solar LLC on Nov. 19, 2019. The petition was approved by the Logansport BZA on Monday, Nov. 18.
ORIGINAL POST:
At their meeting on Nov. 18, 2019, the Logansport Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) will hold a public hearing on a petition from Inovateus Solar LLC, requesting a use variance, special exception and other variances to solar energy systems.
The meeting begins at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18 in the Logansport City Council Chambers on the 3rd floor of the Logansport City Building, 601 E. Broadway.
Inovateus Solar held a public meeting Thursday, Nov. 14 at The Salvation Army in Logansport, to present additional information on the project.
According to the staff report produced by the Logansport-Cass County Planning Department, the proposed location includes about 94 acres at the corner of Market St. and Holland Street, north of Cole Hardwood, Inc. and east of Kiesling Road.
Inovateus Solar is asking for a use variance for the property zoned B4, general business, that is the middle and southwest portion of the site, and special exception is required for the rest of the land, which is zoned I1, light industrial and AG, agriculture.
The staff report states that the development shall be “screened from adjoining residential uses or zones according to the appropriate Class IV Buffer Yard Standard.”
In October, the Logansport Utility Service Board voted 5-0 to approve the proposal from Inovateus to install solar panels on the fields, which are owned by Milt Cole and Jim Donato. Mayor Dave Kitchell said in a news release last month that “much of the property is already inside the city limits, but the additional property involved will be annexed into the city in 2020, as state law prevents any annexation in years prior to a decennial Census.”
Kitchell says LMU plans to purchase electricity from Inovateus, “with an option to purchase the solar field or terminate the agreement after more than two decades.”