The Carroll County Quorum Court will consider a proposed emergency ordinance at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 17, that would impose a temporary moratorium on the construction of commercial wind and solar energy facilities in the county.
The proposed ordinance also would place a moratorium on the “expansion of any such facilities already under construction.”
It stipulates that the “(d)efinition of ‘Commence to construct,’ ‘construct’ or ‘construction’ or ‘expansion’ means any clearing of land, excavation, relocation of utilities, or other action that would adversely affect the natural environment of the proposed site or expansion of a wind or solar energy facility, but does not include erection of meteorological towers, environmental assessments, surveys, necessary borings to ascertain foundation conditions, preliminary engineering, or other activities associated with assessment of development of wind or solar resources on a given parcel of property.”
The proposed ordinance states that a moratorium would not apply “to any wind or solar energy facility within Carroll County, the construction of which began on or before Dec. 31, 2024 …” The proposed ordinance is sponsored by District 11 Justice of the Peace Caroline Rogers, who took office in January after defeating longtime incumbent John Howerton in the November 2024 general election.
Rogers ran as a Republican and an outspoken opponent of Scout Clean Energy’s Nimbus Project — a wind farm currently under construction along Carroll County Road 905 south of Green Forest.
The project will include 30 wind turbines — four of which the company says will be 591 feet tall and the other 26 that the company says will be 644 feet tall. The turbines will be placed on private property, the owners of which have signed lease agreements with Scout.
Opponents of the project say it will be harmful to wildlife, have adverse health effects and pose a potential safety risk for humans and potentially cause significant damage to county roads, along with disturbing the natural beauty of the area and having a negative effect on tourism.
Howerton, a Democrat, had joined several other JPs who said they didn’t necessarily support Scout’s plans but believed they had no authority to intervene and didn’t want to interfere with the rights of property owners.
Rogers is one of more than 30 plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging a road use and maintenance agreement with a subsidiary of Scout.
The quorum court rejected a similar ordinance in November 2023 that would have imposed a one-year moratorium on the construction of any industrial wind or solar energy facility and would have automatically renewed for successive six-month periods unless the quorum court voted not to continue it. It would have prohibited new construction as well as the continuation of any construction already started.
That proposal, sponsored by District 2 JP Bruce Wright and District 7 JP Kellie Matt, failed by a vote of 8-3.
Other measures aimed at regulating wind energy projects and other large-scale industrial projects in the county also have failed to gain approval from JPs.
The Carroll County Quorum Court is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the courtroom of the Eastern District Courthouse in Berryville.
