T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Justin Foss, standing, of Alliant Energy addresses the crowd during a meeting about a proposed solar field on a piece of land owned by the Marshalltown Community School District near Bicentennial Park held Wednesday evening. Also pictured are MCSD Superintendent Theron Schutte and Tanner Clayton, Melissa McCarville and Amanda Accola of Alliant.

A proposal to build a large scale solar array on a piece of land owned by the school district near the western edge of Marshalltown was the topic of discussion during a meeting that ran over an hour and a half at the public library on Wednesday evening, with most nearby residents sharing their skepticism or outright hostility to the idea and a few others feeling more favorable toward it.

The project would be a joint venture between Alliant Energy and the MCSD as part of the company’s Clean Energy Blueprint, and the lease agreement, which was approved at the Aug. 21 school board meeting, could remain in place for up to 35 years. Superintendent Theron Schutte provided some history on the 5.7 acre parcel, which previously hosted an adult soccer league next to Bicentennial Park, and he noted that it had once been held as a spot for a new school building if the city continued to grow in that direction. Consultation with former City Administrator Jessica Kinser indicated that there were no long-term plans for residential development, and from there, Schutte said representatives from Alliant had approached him about a year to a year and a half ago to see if the district might be interested in a partnership. The aforementioned site was determined to be the most viable.

Schutte spoke to a friend who lives in the area and had been told that the closest residents on Nelson Road were accepting of the idea, though nothing was formal at the time.

“In no way was that a statement of 100 percent support or anything like that, and probably part of it was naivete on my part in thinking that, compared to what it had been used for or other things the district could do out there, that a solar field would provide some level of assurance for a period of time,” Schutte said. “That it could provide an assurance that it wouldn’t be used for anything other than that.”

That statement drew some reaction from residents who said they were not consulted or notified about the proposal and only became aware of it because of a story in the Times-Republican detailing the approval of the lease agreement. Tom Weis, who lives on Highland Acres Road, accused Schutte of misleading the public on the level of approval for the project and who had received notification letters, but the superintendent said it wasn’t his intention.

Justin Foss, Tanner Clayton, Melissa McCarville, Matt Hanson and Amanda Accola of Alliant Energy were also on hand, and Foss explained the company’s customer-hosted solar program targeting large-scale users like the school district to help them generate revenue — the company provides a lease payment and maintains and operates the equipment — while also furthering Alliant’s sustainability goals. Alliant has already partnered with the YMCA/YWCA on an array on the east edge of town near the intersection of East Main Street and 18th Avenue.

As the floor was opened up to questions, residents chimed in and voiced a number of concerns about solar, including the aesthetic change it would entail, noise, maintenance requirements, property resale values, renewable energy subsidies and tax credits and potential fire hazards. Many simply wondered why the array couldn’t be placed somewhere else or on another school district property — or if the district couldn’t sell the parcel outright.

“We don’t have to put it here. It’s supposed to be a partnership and something that people supposedly want. The school district does want it,” Accola said.

During a subsequent interview, Foss acknowledged the mixed feelings neighboring residents tend to harbor about solar projects but promised to be open and transparent throughout the process.

“That’s a really personal thing for everybody to determine where they stand on that, and we just kind of want (them) to take away that ‘Look, we’re a trusted partner and we’re gonna do what we say’ and where the cities allow and the permits allow, then we can do something successful,” he said.

As for how the lease payments would benefit the district, Schutte said the money would go back into the general fund and help cover expenses like the increased energy costs since the high school has implemented air conditioning.

One neighbor, Tim Hillygus, bucked the trend of the night and said he had no problem with the project because of what he described as the “horrible” things he had witnessed at the park in the past.

“If this is something that’ll benefit the school system plus do away with all the crap that I’ve seen go on back there, I’m in favor of it. I really am,” Hillygus said. “I think everybody’s getting all worked up over ‘Oh, there’s a solar field. I can’t walk my dog.’ Well, there’s plenty of park left.”

Val Ruff countered Hillygus’s case and disputed that complaints had been widespread previously, arguing that most who live in the area enjoy the park and green space and would like to keep it intact.

Accola and Foss stressed that the project is still in its early phases, and the land in question would need to be rezoned to either general industrial, general commercial or recreational usage, first through a hearing and recommendation from the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission and then through a formal city council vote.

“There’s a lot of due diligence before we say ‘Yes, this is where we think it should go,'” Accola said.

One attendee at the meeting was P&Z Commission Chairman Jon Boston, who noted that the city recently rewrote its zoning code, and he did not expect the proposal to easily pass as the area is intended for low-density residential use. He also warned of a potential lawsuit being filed by the nearby residents if the city is determined to have utilized “spot zoning.”

“It’s very unlikely, in my opinion, that the city of Marshalltown would change this spot to allow this kind of implementation,” Boston said.

If everything goes according to plan, Accola predicted, construction would not even begin until the spring or summer of 2025. Boston estimated that the process of scheduling a P&Z hearing and bringing the matter before the city council would take at least four to five months.

Before the meeting wrapped up, Schutte reiterated that it would not be “the end of the world” if the project doesn’t materialize, and he told the T-R that the district would continue to pursue other renewable energy opportunities regardless of the outcome.

He admitted he didn’t anticipate the level of concern he heard on Wednesday — though he was sure to thank everyone who did come out to share their thoughts on the matter and said they asked “great questions.”

“I think there was some misunderstanding and miscommunication and misinterpretation of things, which this meeting provided the opportunity to clear up, but whether that makes a difference in how people feel about the project or not is a different thing,” Schutte said after the meeting.

Although they faced a generally tough crowd, both Foss and Schutte were glad they had the opportunity to engage in an open dialog and exchange ideas in a civil manner.

“We don’t have a lot of details on the project because we’re just not that far along, but I can talk generally about solar energy and the things we wanna accomplish and the way that we work with customers and communities and be that long-term partner,” Foss said.

And amidst a rapidly changing landscape for public school districts in Iowa, Schutte and other school administrators around the state will always be keeping an eye out for ways to make their dollars go further.

“If this was 10 years ago or 10 years down the road, we’d be looking at trying to maximize our funds and find efficiencies in order to use less energy in some cases and also to make money off of opportunities like this,” he said. “I think that will continue to be more and more important as everything gets more expensive and assuming that we’ll continue to get low (funding) increases year after year.”

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.