Solar farm proposal doesn't sit well with property owner

A proposal to construct a 5-mega-watt solar plant at 273 W. Gibbons Ave. in southeast Porterville will have to wait due to one property owner's objection.Jerry Evans, son of Porterville resident Juanita Baldo, told the Tulare County Planning Commission that if the project was approved as proposed, it would wipe out a water well used to irrigate two acres of orange trees on his mother's property.The project is being proposed by ImModo Solar, a Spanish-owned renewable energy firm that plans to develop a dozen other solar plants in Tulare County within the next year, including a 4.6-megawatt plant on the west side of North Main Street, between North Grand and Linda Vista avenues"Have you considered the loss of the water to water the orange groves?" Evans asked commissioners at their regular meeting Dec. 12. "She depends on that income on an annual basis. It's not a lot, but it is enough to sustain her."
Evans said project applicants do not have legal access to the property. He explained that his mother granted access to her step children, who sold the grove (minus the two acres) to a buyer who agreed to water his mother's trees in exchange for granting him access for Baird-Neece Packing Corporation to harvest his fruit. The two-acre harvest yields anywhere from $3,500 to $4,000 annually for Baldo, Evans said.He told commissioners that the blight on the property was also of concern."As much as we appreciate the fact that the Walmart Distribution Center, which was approved and put across the street from the property years ago, has increased jobs in Porterville, I can tell you these bloodshot eyes are not from drinking last night," Evans said. "Adding to that, with this construction back here and her bedroom window, which is on the second floor facing south, as opposed to getting up and looking out at trees she will be looking at steel, concrete, fiber glass, whatever else these panels are made of."
Evans said Baldo was willing to sit down and talk about the possible loss of income."We're open to negotiation, but if it is approved, our position is that we're not going, we'll put up a locked gate," he said.Don Watson, vice president of ImModo Solar, said at the meeting that his firm was not aware of any access issues."That's new information to us. We understood that property put for sale has to have legal access. We will certainly look into that," Watson told commissioners.He went on to say that the company "certainly and absolutely" wants to keep the well productive and would have his farm manager talk to neighbors in the area to see if they could have a productive use for the well."We were going to be contacting neighbors a little bit later, that's what we're doing on our other properties, too," he said. "We want to be good neighbors for the long term."