Appeals court sides with North Annville Township & resident in solar farm dispute

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has sided with North Annville Township and a township resident by denying a developer permission to build a giant solar panel farm on agricultural land off state Route 934, ruling that it did not file an appeal on time.

Lebanon Solar I, a subsidiary of multi-national energy conglomerate Enel Green Power, applied to township zoning authorities in 2021 for conditional-use approval to build a 1,200-acre solar farm, later reduced to 858 acres, spread over 12 contiguous properties that are zoned agricultural.

A conditional use under zoning laws is allowed in a normally off-limits area if specific conditions are met.

The application generated intense public interest and several standing-room-only public hearings before the township’s five-member planning commission. Some residential property owners feared the township’s rural nature would be harmed and their property values lowered, while some farmers argued that development was inevitable and solar panels were less intrusive than mammoth warehouses.

Township supervisors orally denied Lebanon Solar I’s conditional-use application at a hearing on April 5, 2022, but did not issue a formal written decision with specific factual and legal findings, as required by law, until May 12, 2022.

Lebanon Solar I appealed to the Lebanon County Common Pleas Court from the township’s April 5 decision. After the township issued its written decision on May 12, 2022, Lebanon Solar I filed an amended notice of appeal on June 17, 2022, 36 days later.

The township and resident Grady Summers objected, arguing that Lebanon Solar I’s first appeal from the township’s oral decision was too early, and that its amended appeal from the township’s written decision was too late. Pennsylvania zoning law sets an appeal deadline of 30 days, with the clock starting to run when a formal written decision is issued.

Lebanon County Judge Bradford Charles sided with Lebanon Solar I on the timeliness issue, ruling that it had given fair notice that it wanted to appeal when it first appealed from the township’s oral decision, and therefore shouldn’t be prevented from having the township’s denial reviewed just because it didn’t meet the strict 30-day deadline.

Nevertheless, Charles denied Lebanon Solar I’s appeal for other reasons, one of which was that the 12 properties comprising the proposed solar farm had to each, individually, satisfy all of the conditional-use conditions.

The township and Lebanon Solar I both appealed to Commonwealth Court, and Summers was given permission to join in the appeal.

Commonwealth Court ruled on May 23 that by waiting 36 days to appeal from the township’s formal written decision Lebanon Solar I had lost its right to appeal to Judge Charles, and that the township’s denial of conditional-use approval to build the solar farm should stand.

Because the Commonwealth Court decided the appeal was too late to begin with, it did not decide the other issues raised, such as whether the 12 lots could be considered as one.

Lebanon Solar I can appeal further to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but the court could decline to hear the appeal, making the Commonwealth Court’s decision final.

Township attorney Paul Bametzreider told LebTown via a May 26 email that while he had not yet discussed the decision with his client, “it is unlikely the township will appeal unless Lebanon Solar appeals. We are pleased with the Commonwealth Court’s decision and are in complete agreement with the holding.”

Summers told LebTown by telephone on May 27 that he was pleased with the decision.

“We know it’s not over, but this is definitely a verdict we appreciate hearing,” said Summers. “I thought Lebanon Solar was never really leveling with the community about what was happening.”

Summers emphasized that his opposition was to the location of the project, not to solar energy itself. “I think solar is really positive,” he said. “It’s the future. I hope we see more.”

Summers noted that other large solar farms in Pennsylvania are in remote areas. “The one in Nesquehoning [Carbon County] can’t be seen from the road. The biggest one … in Clearfield County is on a former coal mine, and there’s not a home for miles. We were going to have 58 people who would have had solar equipment and buildings in their front yards.”

Elizabeth Dupuis, attorney for Lebanon Solar I, had not responded to a request for comment by publication time.

Read More:

• (June 2021) North Annville residents sound off on proposed solar farm project
• (August 2021) N. Annville Twp. Planning Commission considers changes to solar ordinance
• (December 2022) Lebanon Solar Appeals Township Decision (Lancaster Farming)