In a split vote that ran contrary to the recommendations of the Planning Commission, the Logan Township supervisors this week denied a resident’s request to rezone 266 acres in Coburn from agricultural to industrial — which would have enabled a Harrisburg firm to create a 15-acre solar farm.

About 25 residents came to oppose the rezoning request, citing concerns that the more liberal designation could put the rezoned acreage outside the solar farm at risk for unwanted types of development.

That could potentially include something like a salvage yard, said Supervisor Ed Frontino, who voted to deny the request, along with Joe Metzgar and Ron Heller — defeating the affirmative votes of Patrick Jones and Chairman Jim Patterson.

“You can’t put the genie back in the bottle after it’s done,” said resident Dave Buck, who imagined looking out his back door one day and seeing a dollar store.

The residents feared losing the “generational character” of the secluded, wooded rural area, said Kelly Feather, estranged wife of John Feather, who owns not only the land proposed for the solar farm, but much of the rest of what would have been rezoned.

Why not rezone only the 15 acres, to eliminate the worry about the rest of the ground, some residents asked.

That would be spot zoning, which is illegal in Pennsylvania law, said Planning Director Cassandra Schmick.

The proposal avoided spot zoning by connecting the proposed solar farm acreage with an existing patch of industrial ground in Mill Run.

Even if rezoning had been approved, there wouldn’t have been much danger of other kinds of development on the additional acreage, given the lack of public sewer and water service, according to Schmick.

The acreage involved is hardly a place where development of a “smokestack industry” would be practical, Patterson said.

But it’s not clear what might be practical 50 years from now, especially given technological possibilities, Frontino said.

Suppose the township reworked the recently updated solar ordinance to allow commercial arrays on agricultural land, Metzgar asked.

That would eliminate the concerns about developments like junkyards and factories, he said.

That way “everybody’s happy,” Metzgar said.

That elicited widespread clapping among audience members.

Before recommending that the supervisors rezone the ground, the Planning Commission had considered how best to handle commercial solar farms, and recommended that they not be permitted on ag land, to help preserve farms, Patterson pointed out.

There have recently been some concerning examples of farm ground in a nearby county being approved for solar farms, based on the wishes of heirs to the former owners of the ground, Patterson said.

There’s also a concern that solar farms on ag-zoned land near residential developments would not be appreciated by residents of those housing developments, Patterson said.

There’s always potential tension between proposed uses by landowners and the preferences of neighbors “who would rather not see any change,” said Scott Wyland, a principal of Penn3 Power, which had proposed the solar farm in Coburn.

Penn3 has other solar projects in play, Wyland said.

“We search for areas that welcome what we do,” he said. “We don’t want to force unwelcome projects.”

John Feather had hoped the Penn3 project would provide income to offset the taxes he pays on his Coburn land.

Given the defeat, he plans to consult with an attorney in hopes of figuring out what else he might be able to do to benefit the community, he said.

A 3-megawatt project the size of the one proposed by Penn3 would typically cost between $3 million and $6 million to develop, according to an expert who declined to be identified.

Mirror Staff Writer

William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.