Residents seeking answers on proposed Saint Joe County wind project
SAINT JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. — Some Southern Saint Joseph County residents are on a search for answers after several households received a letter about a proposed wind project mid Sept.
The paper that was found in mailboxes are from an international renewable energy project developer called UKA-Group. ABC57 reached out to the group for comment about the project, who responded with the following statement:
“We are continually evaluating opportunities for projects that align with our goals. At this point, the project in question is in early evaluation stages and it would be premature to share details. If it’s considered viable and we decide to move forward in the area, we'll be happy to share information publicly.”
The UKA Group also sent some residents, including county community member Jason Gean, a map of their proposed area which spans 5000 acres in the Southern part of the county.
“Initially reading that letter leads me to believe that there’s already a project in the works, somebody knows something… for them to get to this point to where they’re going to be soliciting door-to-door and talking about leases and talking about payments, it seems that somebody within our government, in our county, should know what’s going on,” said Gean.
Saint Joe County Director of Economic Development, Bill Schalliol, said he is working to find out what’s going on, after learning about the project from the media and online social media posts of the letter, not from the UKA-Group themselves. He said he called and sent emails, with no reply.
“For somebody to come into this market and try to take down 5000 acres, it seems pretty, pretty extreme, but again, we’d like to know more about the project, so we haven’t formed an opinion, we’re just trying to learn more about it… We met this morning after one of our committee meetings with all the members of the development team and nobody’s talked to the group, so we’re not really sure who they’re meeting with or who they’re talking to. So, we’re a little concerned about that misrepresentation, or that representation, maybe they are talking to somebody, we just haven’t figured out who it is,” said Schalliol.
Both Gean and Schalliol said they heard a UKA-Group representative is expected in the area soon.
“If they know nothing about this project, our question is, are they still going to allow this German company based out of Florida to send representatives here next week to solicit door-to-door with possibly vulnerable homeowners who know nothing about it? It seems like our county should be involved in at least setting the stage for this,” said Gean.
“I think somebody here saw a post that said that the developer’s gonna be in town in the next couple of weeks and we’re like that’d be nice, maybe they can stop in and come talk to somebody," said Schalliol.
UKA-Group Proposed Wind Project in St. Joseph County Indiana letter:
“Dear Neighbor,
You are receiving this letter because you have been identified as a stakeholder within the target Project area for a proposed Wind Project in St. Joseph County Indiana. As part of the development process, UKA-Group wants your input to help inform their decisions.
Over the next few weeks, I will be reaching out to you as part of our initial Project development activities. The intention of the calls or visits will be to engage property owners and other stakeholders within the community to discuss general project details and benefits, as well as discuss our lease offer program with select property owners in the area.
Our goal is to hear comments and questions which will help us better understand what is important to you as we move forward with the development of our proposed project.”