In session Monday morning, Brown County Commissioners were presented a petition from those opposed to a proposed solar farm and requested tax abatement by the developer, IP Radian. The project is in southwest Brown County near Brookesmith and in the Brookesmith Independent School District.
Two citizens against the proposed project and requested tax abatements, Steve Wilson and Jeff Tucker, both spoke briefly representing the TLOW group, Texas Landowners Opposed to Wind.
Wilson was the first to speak.
“This petition will prove an overwhelming opposition to these abatements. Texas Petition Strategies out of Buda performed the task associated with obtaining and verifying the signatures,” Wilson said. He continued by saying all signatures have been verified by public rolls and Brown County Appraisal District.
“The goal was 500 verified signatures in seven days. That goal was exceeded in just two days. The final results should be no question in anyone’s mind that the overwhelming majority of Brown County residents and voters do not want these reinvestment zones or abatement approved by this court,” Wilson concluded.
Jeff Tucker stood and followed up on Wilson’s presentation.
“I’ve got the verified signature list here. Currently, and we’re still counting, but this is what we’ve got verified, 1,668 votes against, registered voters 1,199 (72%), not registered 469, that’s 28% of that number. In Precinct One we show 362 opposing, Precinct Two 379 opposing, Precinct Three 440 opposing, Precinct Four 486 opposed,” Tucker said.
The petition is further broken down into those who are homeowners as opposed to those who rent.
“We’ll present this to the Court along with the petition signatures and we appreciate your time,” Tucker concluded.
Approximately 200 people attended a public forum Wednesday night, April 14, at the Adams Street Community Center. The forum, put on by Brown County Commissioners, was designed to hear the pros and cons of a proposed solar power farm in southwest Brown County, near Brookesmith. Arguments were made, for and against, the proposed project and the abatement being requested by the developer, IP Radian of San Francisco, California.