MANSFIELD — Richland County voters may vote directly on the future of large wind and solar power facilities in the county.
A local coalition of residents and organizations — choosing the name Richland County Citizens for Property Rights and Job Development — plan to circulate petitions and seek enough signatures to put such an issue on the May 2026 primary election ballot.
The group had an organizational meeting Thursday night at the Richland County Democratic Party headquarters, 16 S. Park St., in downtown Mansfield.
Organizers said, however, their effort to obtain the needed 3,392 signatures from registered voters in the county will be a non-partisan drive.
“We just want to get it on the ballot and let the voters decide,” said organizer Venita Shoulders, vice chair of the Richland County Democratic Party, who also holds a party seat on the four-member county Board of Elections.
(Below is language on petitions seeking to put a wind/solar power referendum on the ballot in Richland County for the May 2026 primary.)
The meeting came one week after the county Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a ban on”economically significant wind farms, large wind farms and large solar facilities” in 11 of the county’s 18 townships.
These 11 townships are Bloominggrove, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson, Mifflin, Monroe, Perry, Plymouth, Sharon, Troy and Weller. Trustees in all of those townships had asked commissioners for the restriction, which is one of the reasons county commissioners cited in making the decision.
Unincorporated areas in Richland County where economically significant and large wind farms and large solar facilities remain unrestricted are Cass, Butler, Sandusky, Springfield, Madison, Washington and Worthington townships.
County restrictions do not apply to incorporated areas, which include Plymouth, Shiloh, Shelby, Crestline, Galion, Ontario, Mansfield, Lucas, Lexington, Bellville and Butler.
Commissioner Tony Vero said before the vote July 17 that commissioners felt the decision to prohibit these projects in specific townships was a decision which should be left to township trustees.
He said the resolution approved July 17 does not prevent large wind or solar projects from coming to other areas of Richland County.
The meeting Thursday evening was led by Shoulders, Sharon Township resident John Makley and Brian McPeek, business manager for the IBEW 688 in Mansfield.
All three spent time answering audience questions about the resolution approved by commissioners, a public meeting all three attended.
“Our only recourse is Election Day,” said McPeek, a labor leader who has been involved in the permitting and approval process of solar factories around the state, including in Crawford, Wyandot, Morrow and Knox counties.
On Thursday, he said major companies like Amazon or Intel want communities to have some source of clean energy and that such projects provide “living wages” for workers during construction.
“They’re (companies) forward-thinking,” McPeek said. “(If) we’re banning these projects (than) we’re banning development in Richland County. There’s no reason to do that now.”
Makley told those in attendance the signature drive must be done quickly and turned into the Board of Commissioners by Aug. 15, which is within 30 days of the resolution banning such projects approved by commissioners.
“We are going to get 5,000 signatures,” he said of the process that includes a validation review by the Board of Elections to ensure signatures are from registered voters in the county. “We have to get signatures like we never have before.”
The petitions being circulated, starting on Friday, include the following language:
“We, the undersigned, being electors residing in Richland county, equal to not less than eight per cent of the total vote cast for all candidates for governor in the county at the preceding general election at which a governor was elected, request the board of county commissioners to submit this designation of a restricted area to the electors of Richland county, for approval or rejection at a special election to be held on the day of the primary or general election to be held on May 5, 2026, pursuant to section 303.59 of the Revised Code.”
Organizers said circulation of the petition will begin this weekend outside the Final Friday concert in downtown Mansfield and an event Saturday near the intersection of West Fourth Street and Lexington-Springmill Road in Ontario.
The petition will also be available for signature at the Democratic Party booth at the Richland County Fair, which begins Aug. 3, and public places such as libraries.
Circulators will also begin taking the petitions door-to-door, organizers said.
