One month after a proposed ordinance that would have imposed a a temporary moratorium on the construction of commercial wind and solar energy facilities in the Carroll County was pulled from the county quorum court’s agenda at the request of its sponsor, a new proposal is on the agenda for the court’s regular meeting on Tuesday, March 17.
The newest proposed ordinance, sponsored by District 7 Justice of the Peace Kellie Matt and District 10 JP Jerry King, would “not apply to any industrial wind or solar energy facility within Carroll County, the construction of which began on or before December 31, 2024, provided it complies with all applicable federal, state and local laws,” the text of the proposed ordinance says.
The proposal goes on to say that any such pre-existing facility would be required to provide the quorum court with revenue and energy production statistics for each wind turbine or solar array annually, in April.
The proposal sponsored by Matt and King comes after District 11 JP Caroline Rogers, who joined the quorum court in January, withdrew a similar proposal that had been on the agenda for the quorum court’s Feb. 17 meeting.
Unlike the newest proposal, the measure sponsored by Rogers would also have placed a moratorium on the “expansion of any such facilities already under construction.”
Rogers was elected in the November 2024 general election, unseating longtime District 11 JP John Howerton. 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 proposed ordinance sponsored by Matt and King does make reference to the Nimbus project, stipulating that the moratorium would “remain in effect until the fifth anniversary of the date the last turbine in the Scout Clean Energy/Nimbus wind turbine facility currently under construction begins to produce electricity, or .. (t)he Quorum Court passes an ordinance lifting the moratorium.”
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.
Six votes are required for passage.
The Carroll County Quorum Court is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 17, in the courtroom of the Eastern District Courthouse in Berryville.