Officials with the Town of North Liberty and the John Glenn School Corporation recently worked together to get a zoning variance in order for the solar project to move forward at the North Liberty Elementary School.
The John Glenn School Board members approved the project earlier this year in an effort to save in energy costs at the corporation.
John Glenn School Superintendent Christopher Winchell told the school board members Tuesday night that the school is zoned residential there when it was thought the property was zoned institutional.
In addition to energy cost savings that the solar project is expected to provide, Winchell said he appealed to the Town of North Liberty on how it will impact students.
“We just outlined where this will impact our ability to provide hands-on, eyeballs-on instruction,” stated Winchell. “It really provides from really neat additional opportunities in particular at the high school level with the career pathways and the CTE direction that the state has been going.”
The John Glenn School Board members approved the agreement with the Town of North Liberty for a variance for institutional use with unanimous vote.
Winchell said with the town’s approval and the school board’s approval the variance request will now go before the St. Joseph County Board of Zoning Appeals for final consideration. The project will be cleared for construction in the spring.
