Do you remember what it was like at the beginning of COVID when we were mandated to stay home? I do. And although we were both working from home, the thing we were most grateful for was living on 5 ½ acres where we could get outside whenever we wanted.
We also remember during that time how important our Ashland County Parks were in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our community. When kids couldn’t go to school, parents could still take them to the Ashland County Parks to run and play.
When people couldn’t go to the gym, they could go to the Ashland County Parks to walk, run, and ride bikes. And for community members with limited mobility, having access to the paved trails at Freer Field and Byers Woods were a Godsend. Byers Woods continues to be the second most visited park in the County Parks system.
Recently, the Ashland County Commissioners announced a proposal from CEP Renewables, a company based in New Jersey, to consider installing solar panels on top of the big grassy area that is at the center of the paved walking path at Byers Woods.
While the Ashland County Park District maintains Byers Woods (and has paid to install the paved trail, restrooms, playground equipment), Ashland County still actually owns the property due to the landfill still being under their jurisdiction to monitor until 2030. CEP Renewables has made a plethora of promises to the Commissioners of a financial windfall for the county if the panels are installed at Byers Woods.
According to the Commissioners meeting on March 9, 2023, CEP claims they will pay the County $61,000 – $91,000 per year to lease the land. They also claim the County will get an additional $105,000 per year in property tax revenue.
CEP Renewables stated in their presentation to the Commissioners on March 9, 2023 that they are seeking “distressed properties, such as landfills and brownfields, which is land that has previously been developed but that is not currently in use.” While Byers Woods is the site of the former landfill, its rehabilitation has made it not distressed and it is definitely IN use.
A small group of community members have begun raising concerns about the project for a variety of reasons including: decreasing the aesthetics of Byers Woods, decimation of habitat for bobolinks (an endangered bird species), disrupting other vegetation and wildlife integral to the broader ecosystem, and most importantly, what assurances there are that the company and commissioners will do what they promise.
In organizational systems thinking, it’s a well-known fact that removing an integral part of a process will disrupt the larger ecosystem of an organization, thus negatively impacting the outputs. Think about your car or truck as an ecosystem.
Now imagine that the manufacturer decided that a certain bolt isn’t really important, and they can make more money by not putting it in the vehicle. But in reality, that bolt is integral to the vehicle operating safely. Would you care if it’s in the car? A natural ecosystem works the same way. The elimination of one species of bird may not seem like a big deal – but that bird has a very specific purpose in the ecosystem and eliminating them will have a ripple effect that can eventually negatively impact humans.
CEP Renewables has only been in existence since 2020 (which interestingly is not communicated on their “About us” page on their website). According to the online business directory Zoominfo, CEP Renewables reports having fewer than 25 employees and annual revenue of less than $5 million dollars. It is a privately held company. (https://www.zoominfo.com/c/cep-renewables-llc/483319733 ) Why does this matter? Because this company doesn’t have history to base its reputation on as a community partner.
Practical questions we have for the Commissioners are:
1. Where does CEP get the revenue that they claim will be used to pay the County? Are they getting government grants and subsidies to pay the host sites? What happens if the government stops providing those funds in 5 years? Will the County still get paid for the 20 year lease? What if CEP defaults on its part of the contract?
2. Who will oversee the installation of the panels to ensure minimal impact to the existing ecosystem?
3. How will the electricity be transmitted from the panels to a substation? We already have a natural gas pipeline running through Byers Woods. Will the panels cause any potential health concerns to families who are visiting Byers Woods?
4. What will the revenue to the County be used for once the landfill rehabilitation is complete in 2030 and how will it be tracked? Technically, once the 30 years is up for the landfill, as long as the groundwater and gases from the landfill are deemed to be safe, our understanding is that the County would no longer be required to pay out $80,000-$90,000 per year for monitoring (numbers according to Ashland Source, March 10, 2023). – NOTE: The funds to pay for the monitoring of the landfill ARE ALREADY COVERED by a percentage of money that comes to the county from the Solid Waste Authority (Ashland Times-Gazette, Feb. 14, 2022)
5. How will the $105,000 proposed property tax offset be used and tracked?
6. What happens if CEP Renewables suddenly goes bankrupt before the 20 year lease is up? Who is responsible for the panels?
7. Given that CEP Renewables is a new company and they don’t have a track record of having any properties with solar panels that have been in place for 20 years or longer, how would the Commissioners ensure that the company takes responsibility for maintaining and responsibly removing the panels at a later date?
8. How will the natural ecosystem of plants and wildlife be cared for in the process of installing the panels? What will happen to the bobolinks?
9. Why is the Park District not being allowed to speak out about their opposition to the project?
As community members, we have a responsibility to hold our elected officials accountable for the decisions they make that impact us not just in the short term, but in the future as well. This project is going to negatively impact the wellbeing of people in the community, which seems counter to what our government leaders say is important.
We encourage anyone who enjoys Byers Woods to attend County Commissioners meetings and write public letters to express their concerns about this project. You can visit CEP Renewables website here https://www.ceprenewables.com/projects to see what the panels would look like and imagine them at the center of the paved walking path at Byers Woods.
Greg and Ginny Telego
Ashland, Ohio
