Local community discusses plan to build solar panel installation next to farmland

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Over the past few years, solar panels have popped up all over Lexington. and people cannot get enough clean energy.

However, there are places where Fayette County residents feel solar panels are inappropriate, as discussed today in Frankfort.

The community came together to voice their thoughts on a recent plan for a large-scale solar installation that would be located in agricultural areas of Fayette County.

“It can be good for homeowners, it can be good for businesses, but we’re here to protect the agricultural business,” said Jason Whitis with the Fayette County Farm Bureau.

Whitis believes solar energy has no place near local farms.

“It’s important to voice our opinions and let them know where we are, where the community is, because they directly impact Fayette County,” Whitis added.

He believes the plan would harm other natural resources such as rich soil, which could impact horses, cattle, crops and more.

“To take a large piece of land that’s 388 acres and turn it into a solar farm, that’s great farmland,” Whitis said.

“Our farms are our business. They produce businesses and make up a large part of our economy. So if we take the farm out of use, out of economic development, and put in a solar farm, that’s actually a bad trade-off,” Mayor Linda Gorton said.

She agrees and believes there are other ways to make Lexington greener. But installing solar panels on something so valuable is not one of them.

“The solar farm does not create jobs for Fayette County and does not produce products for Fayette County. So we object to that,” Gordon said.

Mayor Gorton and Whitis believe this plan will create problems for horses, cattle, crops and more.

They both agree that there are many good options for solar farms in the area. But the problem is that “they want to put them on our best farmland. This is our main dispute.”