The Marshall County Council filed suit in Marshall Circuit Court on Nov. 6 against the Marshall County Commissioners and Tamarack Solar Energy LLC regarding a proposed solar farm in West Township, Union Township, and the city of Culver.
The proposed development would span 50 parcels of land in that area.
The suit seeks to have a decommissioning plan that was approved by the Commissioners on Sept. 16 by a vote of 2-1 overturned. The plan is necessary for the project to obtain a building permit, without which it cannot proceed.
The suit states that Commissioner Kevin Overmyer has a lease agreement with the company hoping to build the project and would benefit monetarily from it going forward. Overmyer, along with fellow commissioner Mike Burroughs, voted for the decommissioning plan, and the suit states that Overmyer “knowingly or intentionally has a pecuniary interest in the Decommissioning Plan Agreement” and that his vote of approval “constitutes a violation of Ind. Code § 35-44.1-1-4(b).”
The project would also need a special use variance from the Marshall County BZA in order to construct the project and that is on hold after the recess of the special BZA meeting for the purpose of a public hearing held on Nov. 7.
At that meeting newly elected, and current members of the Council and Commissioners appeared before the board to urge the denial or at least tabling of a decision on special use pending the outcome of the litigation, since if the court decides to vacate the decommissioning agreement it would create even further confusion.
