Stockton-area voters said yes to zoning Tuesday, taking the first formal step in a fight to stop a 4,500-acre solar farm from moving into their community.
The vote: 215 yes, 161 no.
The referendum triggers a 180-day moratorium on new development in Planning District 3. A five-member advisory board of Stockton residents will now work with Baldwin County planners to draft zoning rules for the district. The Baldwin County Commission holds final approval.
The petition drive began after residents learned Nashville-based Silicon Ranch planned an industrial-scale solar operation on a 4,500-acre former timber tract in their backyard.
Opponents say the project would strip the character from a quiet rural community, consume protected wetlands, send stormwater and sediment runoff toward the Mobile-Tensaw Delta and Mobile Bay, and leave a derelict industrial site behind once the panels reach the end of their working life.
None of the power will reach Stockton homes. Alabama Power will buy the site’s full 260-megawatt output under a 25-year agreement the Alabama Public Service Commission approved in December. Every watt is earmarked for Dotier LLC, a Meta subsidiary building a new data center south of Montgomery, roughly 150 miles from Stockton.
A leader of the movement for zoning and against the solar site, Meagan Fowler, posted on Facebook:
Baldwin County says the fight may already be lost for this specific project.
The county says Silicon Ranch filed permit applications before Tuesday’s vote, and a county statement holds that applications accepted before the referendum carry “vested, grandfathered status” — exempt from whatever zoning rules follow.
Fowler’s group disputes that reading, arguing the permits on file are incomplete and shouldn’t qualify.
Silicon Ranch has said it considers the project fully permitted from the county’s perspective regardless of Tuesday’s outcome.
The project is a $350 million utility-scale solar development from Silicon Ranch, built in two phases, designed to generate a combined 260 megawatts near the northeast corner of U.S. Highway 59 and Interstate 65.
Solar infrastructure will cover roughly 2,000 acres. The remaining 2,500 acres go into long-term conservation, protecting wetlands that feed the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta.
Silicon Ranch plans an “energy + agriculture” model, converting the solar footprint into grazing pasture for a working sheep ranch.
The company projects $50 million in new local tax revenue and more than 700 temporary construction jobs. Few of those jobs will be permanent.
Panels will be built by First Solar at its Lawrence County plant. Major construction is slated to begin in 2027, with the site projected operational by the end of 2028.
Jim ‘Zig’ Zeigler writes about the colorful and positive in Alabama — her people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at [email protected]
