Land owners say Lake Trout's solar permits are void. Getting appeal hearing taking nearly as long as getting the permits.

Ten Blackford County property owners who live next to the Lake Trout Solar Project, owned by EDP Renewables, have asked the county to void all 44 permits the project holds.

Their appeal argues the county's approval for the project expired before the county even issued the permits for construction. If the Board of Zoning Appeals agrees, a commercial solar development that has already paid $158,000 in permit fees would be back to square one.

The appeal was filed July 28 by Anderson attorney Laureen White on behalf of the ten residents. It went to Samantha Dick, executive director of Blackford County Area Planning and Zoning, under Section 405 of the county zoning ordinance, which lets any "aggrieved or affected person" challenge a decision by the zoning administrator.

As of today, it still has no confirmed hearing date, despite other later BZA matters being handled sooner.

Lake Trout Solar is a commercial solar project developed by EDP Renewables. The Board of Zoning Appeals held a public hearing on its special exception request on June 28, 2022.

How the approval process works

Two separate approvals are involved.

A special exception is permission to use the land for a commercial project. The Board of Zoning Appeals grants it. Under Section 1104.2(C) of the county ordinance, it's valid for one year and terminates automatically if construction hasn't started. The board can extend it to two years. At the 2022 hearing, the board also authorized the planning director to grant one additional year beyond that.

An improvement location permit, or ILP, is permission to actually begin construction on a specific parcel. The planning director issues those. A project can't get an ILP without a valid special exception behind it.

What the appeal claims

Issue 1: The extension exceeded the director's authority. The board authorized one additional year, which would have carried the special exception to June 28, 2025. Owen granted eighteen months instead. The filing argues the special exception expired June 28, 2025, because construction never started by that date.

Issue 2: The meeting minutes changed. The appeal points to two versions of the record from that 2022 hearing.

The version the county provided in December 2024, in response to a public records request, shows no vote on the project. When Owen was asked about the missing vote, she said the document was "missing a page," according to the filing. County attorney Allen Wiseley told White's office in July 2025 that he was aware of "an issue on one records request where 1 page was missing from the set of minutes that was originally produced."

Those minutes were requested again in July 2025. The version the county produced in August 2025 contains the same number of pages as the December version. The difference, according to the filing, is that the final page now includes a motion, a second, and a 5-0 roll call vote approving the project.

The filing states the later document's "final page has been altered to show a vote."

Indiana law does not prescribe a specific method for amending meeting minutes. Common practice, though, is to amend them publicly at a live meeting and vote on the amendment, since minutes are public records and the official account of what a board did.

The appeal also notes that Owen told the petitioners the video and audio recording of the June 28, 2022 hearing "has been destroyed."

Issue 3: The permits were issued without a valid special exception behind them. Lake Trout applied for the ILPs on June 27, 2025, one day before the appeal says the special exception terminated. The county didn't issue them until October 21, nearly four months later. The filing argues that by the time the permits were issued, there was no valid zoning approval to support them.

Issue 4: No work has started under the permits either. Each ILP voids if construction doesn't begin within six months. Nine months after issuance, the filing says none of the 44 parcels has seen work begin.

The appeal asks the board to find that the special exception terminated June 28, 2025, that Lake Trout had no valid approval when the permits were issued, and that all 44 permits are void. It also notes the project never applied for a permit for its planned substation at 3600 E. 500 N. in Montpelier.

The filing states the neighbors' property values and quality of life will be harmed, citing an opinion from Mary McClinton Clay, an MAI-designated damages appraiser.

An ironic state of being: an appeal about deadlines, waiting on late party

The Lake Trout appeal was filed July 28. A separate and unrelated special exception request involving the IU hospital was filed August 17, three weeks later. That one received a hearing date of September 15.

The Lake Trout appeal, filed first, is still waiting.

The county has floated October 20 as a possible hearing date for the Lake Trout appeal. The attorneys for the property owners have confirmed they're available. The county's attorney has confirmed. What the county is waiting on, according to information provided to the Ledger, is confirmation from the attorney representing Lake Trout.

An appeal built entirely on the argument that deadlines were missed and approvals lapsed is now sitting in a queue, waiting for the respondent's lawyer to say a date works.