This gravel area to the southwest of the Forest Lake Sports Center is the site of a proposed solar panel array the Forest Lake Area School District wants to install.
The Forest Lake City Council recently sent a solar panel project, projected to save Forest Lake Area Schools $40,000 per year, back to city staff, but school representatives said the district currently has no plans to implement alternative land uses suggested by council members.
The council discussion and vote on the solar project came during the body’s March 14 meeting. FLAS has requested that the city issue an interim use permit allowing the district to build a 55,500-square-foot solar panel array, with a 7-foot-high fence surrounding it, to the southeast of the Forest Lake Sports Center (the center’s roof already houses solar panels). The school district owns the sports center, which it purchased in 2013 from the Forest Lake Area Athletic Association, but it is leasing the center and its surrounding land from the city until 2043. That fact, combined with the fact that the industrial district where the sports center sits usually only allows roof-mounted solar panels, led the school district to request the interim use permit.
If constructed, the panels would be part of an overarching school district solar power initiative. The initiative, which costs the district about $2 million after various tax credits and other factors, is projected by the district to save FLAS a net amount of $200,000 annually over the next 20 years – or $240,000 annually if FLAS is able to install the panels it requested of the city (learn more in the March 3 story “FLAS enacts solar savings” or online at tinyurl.com/zrrru39).
In a 5-1 vote (three members were absent), the Forest Lake Planning Commission recommended the project to the City Council on Dec. 9. At the March 14 council meeting, the planning commissioner who voted against the recommendation, Eric Langness, spoke about some of the objections he had to the project.
“I did ask the question about these things being aesthetically appealing,” he said. Langness, a former School Board member, added that the representatives from solar panel installer Tru North Solar gave him the impression that the array would be an eyesore, not pleasing to area residents or to those who would be frequenting nearby parks like Fenway.
“(The representative) went on and on about literally how ugly this thing is going to be,” he said.
Tru North Director of Community Solar Projects Mike Kampmeier disagreed with that assessment, noting that he thought the high profile of the panels would be a promotion of alternative energy use as well as a nice display of engineering and forward-thinking by the district.
“By seeing the panels, people are actually affected about how and why they use electricity the way they do,” he said.
Council members voiced multiple objections to placing the array to the sports center’s southeast, including limited future use of the site, appearance and the potential of glare to planes landing at the nearby airport (however, the Federal Aviation Administration conducted a study that determined that the array wouldn’t pose a hazard to local air travel).
“This is the city’s ground, and the (sports center) building has solar arrays on it, and I think it should be restricted to that,” Councilman Michael Freer said.
Perhaps the most emphasized reason the council made in its disapproval of the plan in its current form is the view of some members that solar panels on that site could restrict a better use in the present or future. Councilman Ben Winnick said it would be great to see the sports center eventually expand to that area to include a separate outdoor or indoor sheet of ice. He also said that parking at the sports center is “way under what is needed” and suggested that the area could be used for that, as well (in the past, some residents have used that space as overflow parking).
“By putting this array up, it seems like we’re stopping any potential future growth,” he said.
Winnick added that he was in favor of saving money via solar power and suggested that the school strike a deal with the city’s airport commission and move the project slightly so it would be on airport property instead. The bulk of the airport lies directly to the north and east of the sports center.
“For FLAAA to grow, for FLAAA to prosper, you know, they need to have a lot more activities at that (sports center) location,” he opined. Though it no longer owns the sports center, FLAAA still uses the center for some of its sports activities, like hockey.
Mayor Stev Stegner echoed Winnick’s comments about a better use being available for the land. He also stated that the space around the building “was supposed to be outdoor skating areas and things like that” and noted that the city’s Parks Department would like to get more land near the sports center for skating parks. His statements were similar to Langness’ earlier comments that “the original plans of this property, as I recall it, had an outdoor rink and a warming house outside.”
In a 2008 site plan review and site development plan submitted to the city by FLAAA, five years before the district would buy the sports center, the layout of the property shows an outdoor ice rink, a warming house and a field house eventually being built on the site where the school district wants to put the solar panels.
The council ultimately voted to table the project and send it back to city staff in the hopes that the plan could be amended to something members found more suitable. The lone vote against tabling was Councilman Ed Eigner, who said that the district had already jumped through a number of hoops and earned the approval of the planning commission for the project to make it to the council.
“I’d kind of hate to see the council backtrack now,” he said.
The Forest Lake Area School Board did not discuss the panels at its March 17 meeting, but Board Member Dan Kieger, the board’s liaison with the council, said that the district installing another sheet of ice in the area was currently unfeasible. He also pointed out that though the council talked about the use of the land through the lens of city ownership, the district is still leasing the property for several more years before the city will regain control. However, he said the School Board would explore options to make the project feasible.
“Sometimes … you have to take that situation, take a look at it, and step back and see if there’s a plan B,” he said.
FLAS Director of Finance Services Larry Martini reiterated that the school district had never agreed to any sort of plan about putting any recreational facilities on the land, noting that between the two sheets of ice already on the property, the district feels that it is meeting local demand for ice time. He added that, other than the solar panels, the district has “no plans” to do anything on the land for the remainder of its lease.
“We thought this was a good thing to ask for,” he said. “It has taxpayer savings. Twenty years later, we would remove it well before the end of our lease.”
Regarding the area, which is gravel, being used for overflow parking, Martini said that will soon be unfeasible for most vehicles. As a requirement of the district’s purchase of the sports center, it is currently in the process of building a paved parking lot, with curbs, directly along the southeast side of the sports center’s white fabric structure. After the lot is completed, anyone wishing to park in the gravel section will need to jump a curb, and the district does not plan on plowing the area in the winter.
Martini said he would be willing to work with the airport commission on installing panels on airport property, but only if the commission was willing to allow the district to locate there for a “nominal fee,” like a dollar a year. If the commission wished to charge a much larger amount of money, Martini said, he would likely try to find another place on school property to locate the panels, allowing the district to utilize its full savings potential. He said the panels may be able to be moved to the roof of the high school, noting that the transformers for the project were too large for them to be compatible on some of the other school roofs.
Martini remarked that with FLAS not planning on using the land for recreational or parking purposes, the solar panels seemed like a logical use of the land while the district is leasing it.
“We don’t understand why the landlord wouldn’t allow it,” he said. “(The council) all thought renewable energy was a good thing. … (This situation) is a lot like a landlord dictating what you do with your apartment.”
In other City Council news, the council tabled a discussion on approving a grant agreement with the Minnesota Department of Transportation to pay for design work on the paving of the Daniel DePonti Airport runway. The council members were not all sure if the city’s airport commission would have the funding mechanism in place to pay for its share of the project and wanted to discuss it further pending commission and work session meetings on March 21. The council will discuss the topic again at its March 28 meeting.