Solar Project Back on Track

Friends of the Land has learned that Solar Proponent is moving forward to develop the Dogwood Creek Solar project, despite the Elgin Independent School Board rejecting its request for a tax abatement, known as Chapter 313, last fall.

The Austin-based solar company has informally requests that the county issue a permit allowing it to use Old Sayers Road to transport heavy equipment. Its plan for clearing more than 2000 acres of woods and installing solar panels numbering in the hundreds of thousands..

Last month, county records show that the landowner, Henry Bell the Third, who signed a 30-year lease with Dogwood Creek Solar in September 2023, filed an affidavit stating there were no outstanding mineral leases on the more than 2500 acres that solar farm would occupy. After hearing protests from area landowners, the school board rejected the Chapter 313 application which would have provided up to $8 million in property tax breaks over the first ten years of the operation. The property is heavily wooded and is adjacent to two creeks that requently flood.

This is a developing story and will be updated soon.