T-R FILE PHOTO Staff and community leaders gathered for a ribbon cutting outside of the new McFarland Clinic at 421 E. Merle Hibbs Blvd. in July of 2023. During Monday night’s meeting, Executive Director Deb Wollam and Executive Director of Facilities Management Ron Frantzen asked the city council to reconsider a provision in its new ground solar ordinance restricting the height of panels to six feet as they attempt to move forward on a project that stalled as a result of a moratorium passed last year.

During the public comment period of Monday night’s city council meeting, two officials with McFarland Clinic brought up the familiar topic of Marshalltown’s new ordinance regarding ground solar arrays and asked for further reconsideration of a provision that limits the height of such structures.

Within the last few months, the council has already revised its original ordinance banning ground solar arrays on all land within city limits other than parcels zoned agricultural and industrial and now permits them on Public Institution zoned land, which includes medical facilities like McFarland and school buildings. Executive Director Deb Wollam spoke first and thanked the council for its support in accelerating the process after a project McFarland was moving forward with ground to a halt when a moratorium and the aforementioned new ordinance were passed last year.

“It’s been evident to us based on your actions up to this point that you support the project and that what has transpired for us has been unintended consequences,” she said. “I want to be really clear that speaking tonight is in no way meant to be critical of city council, city staff or P&Z members. Our goal tonight is just to make you aware of the most recent roadblock that we are facing and to let you know that moving forward on the project has once again been delayed.”

As it stands now, she added, the McFarland team doesn’t believe it will be able to break ground when the frost clears. Wollam then passed the microphone to Executive Director of Facilities Management Ron Frantzen, who went into more specific detail about the issue at hand.

The current code restricts the maximum height of a solar panel to six feet for use in accessory fields.

“This is not practical in a commercial operation. This will not only affect McFarland Clinic’s project, but any future solar projects for existing businesses or future new businesses entering our community,” he said. “Our (special use) application will be denied due to the height of our panels, and we have been advised to modify our design to (a) maximum six feet or less in height. The reality of the situation (is) that it reduces the return on investment to a point that the project is no longer viable. This represents an approximately $200,000 (a) year loss in cost reductions to our organization. There is no economical way to use commercially double stacked solar panels that can achieve the maximum solar production per square foot properly with the height restrictions.”

Another recommendation is that the panels be placed less than 18 inches off the ground, which Frantzen worried would kill plant growth beneath them. During conversations with previous City Planner Hector Hernandez, Frantzen said the information they presented did not create any code issues at the time, and if he had known of the changes, he added that he would have raised concerns and provided examples of why it wouldn’t work.

Frantzen said he was struggling to understand the current code and reiterated his concern that it would limit the ability to produce enough solar energy to make the project viable.

“We are here today presenting a serious concern and requesting the city council take action to provide a clearer path that has already been delayed since April of 2024. I am equally concerned for other future commercial properties that are on the same PI zone, that they should not have to go through this process of delays and special resolutions,” he said. “I’m here talking on behalf of McFarland Clinic, but I also care about the future people coming behind us that would want to do solar in Marshalltown. I really don’t want them to have to struggle as well. It should be something that should be welcoming to the community.”

Because it was brought up during public comment, the mayor, council and city administrator could not respond or recommend any immediate action.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.