MANSFIELD — A local coalition of residents and organizations have filed a petition in hopes of putting the issue of large wind and solar power facilities on the May ballot.
The Richland County Citizens for Property Rights and Job Development delivered the petition — with more than 4,300 signatures — to county commissioners Monday morning, according to Richland County administrator Andrew Keller.
In order to file the petition, organizers needed to collect 3,392 signatures from registered voters in the county within 30 days of commissioners’ adoption of a resolution putting a ban on “economically significant wind farms, large wind farms and large solar facilities” in 11 of the county’s 18 townships.
Circulation of the petition began July 25. The effort to obtain the nearly 3,400 needed signatures from registered voters in the county was a non-partisan drive, organizers said previously.
The deadline to file was Saturday. But since commissioners’ offices are closed on weekends, the petition was filed Monday morning.
Keller said he expects county commissioners to formally note its receipt of the petition during their meeting Tuesday morning. The board will then vote on forwarding the petition to the Richland County Board of Elections.
Richland County Board of Elections Director Matt Finfgeld and Deputy Director Jane Zimmermann plan to pick up the petition Tuesday and begin reviewing the validity of the signatures, Keller said.
“You can imagine that will take some time (validating the signatures),” he said. “They’ve (Board of Elections) already been working on assembling their team.
“They’ve hauled in part-time help, as well as additional computer equipment and IT support to take this on,” Keller said.
As long as 3,392 of the collected signatures are valid, Richland County voters will vote directly on the future of large wind and solar power facilities in the county on the May 2026 primary election ballot.
Brian McPeek, business manager for the IBEW 688 in Mansfield and co-chair of the coalition, said collecting signatures wasn’t easy.
But he and other circulators feel passionately about the issue and saw the value of trying to get it to the voters.
“In my opinion, there wasn’t a reason (for commissioners) to just say no (to large wind and solar power facilities) to begin with,” McPeek said. “We’ve got to look at every project (case-by-case).”
McPeek has been involved in the permitting and approval process of solar factories around the state, including in Crawford, Wyandot, Morrow and Knox counties.
He said these types of facilities generate significant revenue for communities, while also attracting business development.
“This just lets people who live here (Richland County) make the decision,” McPeek said of filing the petition. “It was a lot of work for a short time.”
Coalition formed after commissioners vote to ban
The Richland County Citizens for Property Rights and Job Development had an organizational meeting on July 24 at the Richland County Democratic Party headquarters, 16 S. Park St., in downtown Mansfield.
The meeting was led by Venita Shoulders, vice chair of the Richland County Democratic Party, who also holds a party seat on the four-member county Board of Elections, Sharon Township resident John Makley and McPeek.
The meeting came one week after commissioners’ decision to ban “economically significant wind farms, large wind farms and large solar facilities” in 11 Richland County townships.
Those 11 townships include Bloominggrove, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson, Mifflin, Monroe, Perry, Plymouth, Sharon, Troy and Weller. Trustees in each of those townships had asked commissioners for the restriction — one of the reasons county commissioners cited in making their decision.
“Our only recourse is Election Day,” McPeek said July 24.
In July, 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 previously. “(If) we’re banning these projects (than) we’re banning development in Richland County. There’s no reason to do that now.”
Unincorporated areas where large wind and solar power facilities remain unrestricted are Cass, Butler, Sandusky, Springfield, Madison, Washington and Worthington townships.
County restrictions do not apply to incorporated areas, including Plymouth, Shiloh, Shelby, Crestline, Galion, Ontario, Mansfield, Lucas, Lexington, Bellville and Butler.
