An injunction issued late Tuesday will prevent any construction or land modification associated with a proposed solar farm north of Lawrence until a lawsuit seeking to stop the project can be resolved.
Chief Douglas County District Judge James McCabria issued the order after hearing arguments from attorneys representing Grant Township, the North Lawrence Improvement Association and more than a dozen other plaintiffs.
The group was seeking an emergency order to prevent the Douglas County Commission from voting on updated plans for the Kansas Sky Energy Center, a 159-megawatt solar energy project planned for 1,105 acres in Grant Township. The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in May seeking to halt progress of the project.
In the motion, plaintiffs allege that the commission has “attempted to procedurally obstruct Plaintiffs’ case for no other apparent purpose than to deprive Plaintiffs of a hearing on the merits and meaningful redress of Plaintiffs’ statutory right to judicial review as citizens of Douglas County and the City of Lawrence.”
McCabria detailed his concerns regarding separation of power and made clear that in no way does he intend to usurp the commission’s authority to vote. However, he said until a ruling could be made in the lawsuit against the facility, the land should not be altered.
“What’s sought here is the status quo of the land while the case is pending,” McCabria said. “I find this to be a way to balance out the public interest.”
At issue is a conditional use permit approved unanimously by the commission in April after multiple marathon meetings. Public comment was divided on the proposed facility, which developers estimate could generate enough electricity to power about 30,000 homes annually if constructed as currently planned.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege that the conditional use permit conflicts with other county documents, including solar regulations and Plan 2040, Douglas County’s comprehensive plan guiding future development.
In court Tuesday, plaintiffs’ attorney Quentin Templeton said the solar project was a violation of Plan 2040, and although case law demonstrates that community planning guides are not legally binding, Douglas County’s version could be.
“The problem for the county is that its comprehensive plan expressly states it is a contract,” he said.
According to their agenda, county commissioners on Wednesday were set to consider approving updated stormwater management and agrivoltaics plans for the solar farm.
On Monday, Templeton and attorney Bill Skepnek filed the motion to prevent the commission vote.
Court documents refer to the solar farm as a “pet project” of Commissioner Karen Willey, who they say has engaged in improper conduct in moving the project forward. The documents also allege that the commission violated nearby property owners’ rights.
In court, Templeton told McCabria that the county’s urgency in approving the updated plans was an effort to “ram through” “back-room dealings” with Evergy and Savion, the corporations behind the solar farm plan. Moving forward with the project while the lawsuit was pending could potentially cause permanent damage to farmland and surrounding property owners, he said.
“The county has said this isn’t going to greenlight construction, but we don’t know that,” he said. “As a result the court should assume the existence of irreparable harm.”
Templeton also asserted that the county commission was moving quickly before the body expands from three to five members, which he said would dilute the will of the existing group.
Terelle Mock, the attorney representing the county commission, assured McCabria that Wednesday’s scheduled vote would not result in permits being issued for project construction, and that commissioners had no “nefarious motives.”
Mock said the county was simply moving forward with requirements outlined in the conditional use permit that would enable the project to eventually move forward.
“The harm is that we’re pushing all these things way out and delaying the process further,” she said. “I think there’s harm in that.”
McCabria said his order was not intended to cause delay, but to enable everyone involved to “come to terms” before actual changes to the land take place.
Although the case against the solar farm remains pending, Skepnek said the injunction was welcome relief.
“It’s like Mick Jagger says — you can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need,” he said. “We got what we needed.”
As of 8 p.m. Tuesday, both the updated stormwater management and agrivoltaics plans for the solar farm remained on the county commission’s agenda.
The Douglas County Commission meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18 at the Public Works/Zoning and Codes Building, 3755 E. 25th St., and will also be available via Zoom. The Zoom link is available via the county’s website, dgcoks.gov. Read more about the meeting at this link.
If our local journalism matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
Andrea Albright (she/her), reporter, can be reached at aalbright (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
More coverage:
Andrea Albright/Lawrence TimesInjunction will prohibit land alterations for proposed solar farm until lawsuit is resolved
August Rudisell / The Lawrence Times
Latest Lawrence news:
Andrea Albright/Lawrence Times
