IOWA CITY

A rezoning approved last week by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors clears the way for the county’s largest solar-panel farm to be installed along Highway 22 between Riverside and Lone Tree.

The Lone Tree Solar Project, which is being planned by a Houston-based global firm named PCR Investments, will cover 50 acres and produce up to 11.81 megawatts of power for a lease of 30 years on a current farm. The property is located on the north side of Highway 22 and west of Sioux Avenue SE, just northeast of River Junction.

The rezoning, approved unanimously at the Board’s Dec. 14 formal session, changes the 50 acres of zoning from Agricultural to Renewable Energy.

“I’m really excited about the PCR project,” Supervisor Rod Sullivan said. “I think if we’re going to make a dent in climate change in this world, we have to have projects like this PCR project.”

The solar project is much smaller than the 800-acre solar farm in Louisa County, but is much larger than the 15-acre MidAmerican Energy solar farm located adjacent to Highway 218 north of Hills and the 9-acre Farmers Electric Cooperative solar farm near Frytown.

Landscape buffers are being planned for the property and solar panels will be no closer than 50 feet from other properties. Per Johnson County regulations, vegetation and decommissioning plans must be finalized and maintained.

Johnson County’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved the PCR rezoning in November. The agreement is with Patricia A. Pirki trust.

The farm will consist of tracking solar panels, which constantly change position each day as they follow the sun overhead.

According to the plan, all accesses to the solar farm will be from Highway 22.

Fiber Building

Scott Havel, General Manager of Sharon Telephone Company in Hills, gave an update on the installation of internet fiber systems at the Board’s work session Dec. 13.

Sharon Telephone was awarded $1.84 million in Iowa’s Broadbrand Grants Program to increase fiber systems in rural areas. Sharon’s work in Broadband Intervention Zone 10 has resulted in fiber systems being built up in the southwest portion of Johnson County along Highway 1 and Rohret Road.

An additional 97 locations not covered by grant funds will also see fiber installation, Havel said. Sharon Telephone is also looking to increase fiber installations in Lone Tree and rural areas south of Lone Tree. The work in and around Lone Tree could run $5 million, Havel said.

“It’s about $15,000 to build a mile of fiber,” Havel said. “So if you’re the only person on a mile or two stretch of road, you can’t ever justify it without grant money. It’s very expensive to do.”

In addition to grants awarded to Sharon Telephone, Kalona Cooperative Telephone Company received $3.1 million in grant funds and Wellman Cooperative Telephone was awarded $2.6 million.

Supervisor Rod Sullivan said the installation of fiber in rural areas is similar to when homes didn’t have electricity long ago.

“It’s the same exact thing 80 or 90 years later,” Sullivan said. “It’s these same places that 90 years ago didn’t have electricity.”

“I think we need to take that same approach today with fiber,” Sullivan added.

Buy Local?

Kalona Post and Frame, which is located about a mile from the Johnson County line, may not be local enough to provide a storage building for the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm.

The Kalona company, which is located on the north side of Highway 22 and in the very northern portion of Washington County, was chosen by Poor Farm officials for the storage building project at a proposal of $91,680. The proposal is more than $8,000 under the estimated cost.

The project was not required to go out for bid, per state code, but Supervisor Rod Sullivan said other firms in Johnson County “may be upset” because they didn’t know about the business opportunity. Supervisors cited a “buy local” policy that is used by the county.

“I would be pissed off if I was a local business owner and I’m paying property taxes in Johnson County and I see that I didn’t even get a chance to do this work,” Sullivan said during the Dec. 13 work session.

Supervisor Jon Green said the storage building project should go out to bid.

Food and Farm Grants

More than $640,000 was requested in Round 2 of the county’s Community and Food Grant Program.

The program, which is using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, was budgeted for $200,000 over each of the next three years. But the Johnson County ARPA Leadership Team is bumping that to $300,000 over the next two years in order to fund more requests.

Grimm Family Farm of North English and the Eastern Iowa Young Farms Coalition were among six recommended for $25,000 requests. Of the 36 eligible requests, 15 were selected at a total funding of $285,376.

A funding of $300,000 would triple the money allocated in the first round of the program this year.

Board Action

The Board, by a split 3-2 vote, approved a new 28E law-enforcement agreement with the City of Tiffin, which includes the hiring of more deputy officers specifically for Tiffin. Supervisors Jon Green and V Fixmer-Oraiz voted in opposition.

The Board approved an amendment to the county’s fringe area agreement with the City of North Liberty.

The Board approved the preliminary plat of a subdivision that would be located adjacent to Interstate 380 at the Swisher entrance ramps.

Next meeting: The Board’s next formal session is at 9 a.m. Dec. 21.