12 November 2026 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes
Present: Dennis Kraus, Jr., Chairman, Mark Lehman, Russell Beiersdorfer, Sabrina Gregory, Joe Vogel, Jake Hoog, Dan Lansing, Jim Thatcher, and Eric Lang
Also Present: Nicole Daily, Planning and Zoning Director, and Andy Baudendistel, Attorney and Duane Bischoff, Commissioner
Baudendistel read the Title VI statement as legally required.
ACTION ON MINUTES- none
OLD BUSINESS: none
NEW BUSINESS: none
ADMINISTRATIVE: Baudendistel- He will bring an ordinance to extend the moratorium on data centers. This will help as it will be an extra whole year from the February 2027 date.
Nicole Daily-We have emailed to you a packet of materials. Comments also.Want a recommendation vote for the staff prepared ordinance.
Lansing- What if favorable recommendation? And how long does the Citizens Advisory Committee have? Thatcher and Gregory asked similar scenarios. The commissioners can make changes on text amendments without having it go back to the Plan Commission. IC 36-7-4-605 which got changed in 2025 for ADVISORY PLAN COMMISSION.
Solar criteria in conditional use criteria section. Page 17. Reduced the criteria so as not to be like the BZA considers.
Eric Lang- because it is conditional use the board can say yes or no for any one of these criteria. Eric- There is a time limit before they can reapply for that use if previously denied? Daily -Yes.
Max size- project size. Gregory 200 Vogel 500 Hoog 200 or 500. Eric 500. Danny 500 Lehman 700. VOTE- was to go with project total 500 acres. Total in the county would be 1500 acres max.
Setbacks- 150 ft with waiver option for non participating neighbor.
Dwelling units- 300 ft setback.
Inverter setbacks- 250 ft from property line and 350 ft from residential structure. Non-compliance enforcement goes in front of a judge per Daily, in response to Hoog’s questioning.
Accessory structures- took school setback out- Daily.
Design features- discussion regarding high tensile fencing. No comments from Board.
Internal roads- width reduced to 16 ft - but wider in intersections to accommodate fire trucks.
Landscaping items- page 30- Along public road- 120ft buffer- only to follow 22 and 2 continuous staggered double rows- 25 ft on center.
Mature trees. Who maintains them? Have them provide us with a landscape maintenance plan.
50 ft set back on side yard. 2 staggered rows 40 ft on center. Can be waived with adjoining property owner.
Topsoil retention- 10% with woodlands kept. Added environmental soil and water quality plan.
Signage posted for Electromagnetic fields.
Page 49- damage events and environmental issues. Geotechnical in beginning and end and every 5 years. Damage related testing and monitoring. 1 year until 3 consecutive tests that pass and then can go back to every 5 years. PCLP testing metals added.
Lang asked about the tonal issues on noise issues- page 61. Acoustical sport requirements start on page 60. Had acoustical noise evaluation. His points were provided in the study requirements on inverters.
Who reviews it should be in the code per Beiersdorfer? Include tech review.
Bond question - Thatcher? She said they have to submit those every 5 years to stay current with costs.
Hoog- what happens with public utility taking its over?Baudendistel- If a municipal one did that would be different. But REMC would still follow these rules.
Distance between project sites -Gregory? Daily- That was taken out a couple meetings ago.
Eric Lang- Gregory Hoog, Kraus and Daily- discussing this distance between projects still.
Lang- “having a 1500 ft solar scar across Dearborn County.”
3 miles distance between projects. Voted in.
Kraus- any more questions from Board?
Open up Public Comment. 7:20 PM
2 speaking for several people- 10 minutes each.
Laureen White- Attorney- urge the PC to table the vote. Neither ordinance is complete of ready for the vote. Do not dilute the issues. Those material deserve substantive consideration. She listed dates 5 criteria to consider for the ordinance. Farmland and woodland protection strong set backs screenings and protection. Enforceable property value guarantee. MUST consider ALL 5 criteria. Madison County did this. Not dismiss these as obstacles to development. Citing the purpose of the ordinance. Protect existing uses too. Conservation of rural character and open spaces. APA guidance in siting solar away from residences. Averaging acreages does not work. Pulling numbers our of thin air for acreage caps. Putting a cap on it is arbitrary. This is not an adequate way to use the numbers. Site impact analysis - once again negotiated numbers. These would be subject a legal challenge. Legislative compromise is not an explanation of what the ordinance…. Documented foundation for separation from properties. Do not defer until damages occur. Health and property values should play in. Clear protective rules. Homes are their largest investment. Property value guarantee. ( Clay and numbers for concrete basis for appraisal evidence.) These protections go beyond 10 years. Finish the citizen’s ordinance. Wants the ordinance to be finished and backed up with data.
David Ullrich-I own land that is currently under lease with Linnea.I speak for others like me and Linnea. I prefer to stay out of the middle of it all. I looked at this difference. You said there is screening around the whole project. So why is there a cap on the project size? Limiting the size of land - you are limiting the business. Input size for solar on land is $400,000. It is a huge investment that is not taken lightly. Utility scale solar is very unlikely to happen with this restriction on acreage with caps. Your economic development agreement has $50,000 to help EMS in the county. Average solar farm in Indiana is 1500 acres - because that is what it takes to do it. The contract I have with Linnea has 2 phases. Construction where there is a big risk. Linnea is NOT the first company here. Hey left and Linnea came in. Solar developer is a business. Not profitable, then they won’t do it. I was hoping it would be here - with the screenings.
I own 2 places in the county and not residing on the one he’s leasing.
Sam Mortenson- Proper planning removes poor performance. For green screen- what is the most important. Pines have ice and wind issues. White pines in the middle with cedars and others on the outer sides. Trees Sleep -creep -leap- across 5 yrs. You need to have what is applicable HERE in landscaping.
Lillian Putsis (sp?)- Indiana Land and Liberty - Private property rights and proposed acreage limits. Caps create winners and losers. Prime farmland- not simply a resource on a map. Farmland is a significant resource. Residential land doesn’t do what solar does- when it can return farmland after it’s done with it……
Shawna Drakę- I wouldn’t want to be in your seats. I know what property rights- but I also understand the rights of the neighbors. Infrastructure of the property. It taps into the grid.Batteries and solar go hand in year. Panels have to be changed several times in it’s lifetime. How much of the electric grid does it take. Kraus Jr. - MISO settles this. If the county wants to lead in energy - we should hire an expert. If we don’t have someone to manage it who will do this. Who is going to check on this? I’d like to listen to someone who know something about this- BUT IS NOT BENEFITING FROM IT. Consider teh people around the project.
Chris Berry- Linnea- reinforce David Ullrich- 169 MGWatts so 1300 acres roughly. 75 decibels is the point source. Internal solutions to he noise and software etc. Emergency response fund-0 we are in fave. Solar does really well in food plain. Have to be careful on parts of it to be out of the plain. Internal road design should eb left to the engineers. If a public road needs to be improved put that in public road plan. Agrees with Mrs White on many things. BUT if its all sheilded- size does not matter.
Ed Yelton- you have pretty good grip on this ordinance. Whether planting or commercial- you need to look at the whole thing. Cited costs of farms etc.
Jenny Bulach- My family used to farm and couldn’t afford capital costs of equipment. Then they used to rent and then rent payments are lower and lower. Barely covers taxes on the farm. Houses are a permanent fixture- not a farm any more. I disagree on caps and farmers can use it as they see fit. How many fields in this county went unplanted this year. Sorry of the neighbors don’t want to look at solar. Just some things to consider. If you do a conditional use- can they still be denied.? Yes. Under the conditional use, can they still get a conditional use over the caps? Have to ask at BZA.
Kraus Jr- No more cards- End Public Discussion- 8:10 PM
Russell Beiersdorfer- Just give my opinion. Being President of Farm Bureau- hammered a lot by young farmers in their 40’s and cannot pay taxes. If you don’t get economies of size. There are a lot of acres not planted this year. When my parents moved here- no grain- we raised fruit- 3 families lived off that orchard. Worked jhard- 7 days a week. It all went back into that farm. Today 3 things important in my life- God- family-country. Stated that he had experienced vitriol to this board from people. The 1200 1500 1800 acres solar farms - economy of scale. You are trying to zone out solar. I will tell Linnea- Sue them. It’s called discrimination. I hate to say it- I have to take my son to Indy for an appt in the morning. Its my opinion. Im not getting on your case- and we should agree to disagree.etc.
3 officers had to come in after that. Russell Beiersdorfer left.
Board discussed and decided to look over a final draft before next meeting. BESS isn’t here- but it has a little in there. Thatcher- lets lookout the final draft and come back to vote. Lang it won’t change much. The Commissioners and Citizens Advisory will do what they do. Is option D2 available to the public. Maybe a 5% change will occur. The Citizens group can look at this. Thatcher Should go to commissioners and Citizens advisory committee at the same time. The property value guarantee is at 10 year mark in this per Gregory. It’s not for the life of the product. Thatcher said he wants dto be sure that anyone that was impacted negatively by a solar farm is compensated for that.
Next meeting Nov 23rd.
Meeting adjourned at 8:20 PM
Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township
