Wind and Solar Leasing in Crawford County: A Wind Ban Upheld by Referendum, and a New Solar Ban

Wind: a 300-megawatt project blocked, then a landslide referendum

Apex Clean Energy's proposed Honey Creek Wind project would have put up to 300 megawatts of turbines in the northern half of Crawford County -- a large-scale project by any Ohio standard. Rather than letting it move through the normal Ohio Power Siting Board process, Crawford County commissioners used the authority Ohio's 2021 Senate Bill 52 grants county commissioners and designated a restricted area in May 2022, reported as a 10-year ban on industrial wind development, effectively cutting the project off before it could advance.

Apex didn't simply walk away. SB 52 also gives residents (and, indirectly, an affected developer) the ability to force a countywide referendum on a commissioners' restricted-area designation, and Apex backed a signature drive that put the question on Crawford County's November 2022 general election ballot -- the first time this specific SB-52 referendum mechanism had been used anywhere in Ohio. Voters settled it decisively: Issue 4 passed with 10,964 "Yes" votes (74.54%) to 3,744 "No" votes (25.46%), upholding the wind ban by better than a 3-to-1 margin and ending the Honey Creek project for good.

Solar's different path: one project grandfathered in, then a total ban

Solar in Crawford County took a meaningfully different route, at least at first. Sycamore Creek Solar -- a 117-megawatt project spread across roughly 917 acres in Cranberry Township, developed by Geronimo Power and now marketed under its National Grid Renewables brand -- received Ohio Power Siting Board approval back in November 2021, well before any county-level restriction existed. That approval held up: construction actually broke ground on January 28, 2025, proceeding on land already under lease or option to the developer, unaffected by anything that came after.

What came after was a much broader move: on June 6, 2025, Crawford County commissioners voted to ban all further solar development anywhere in the county. Reporting on the vote describes a public hearing where more than a hundred residents turned out, with those speaking in favor of new solar development outnumbering opponents by roughly 3-to-1 -- yet commissioners adopted the ban anyway. The immediate, direct casualty was a separate, newer proposal called Wombat Solar, which the ban blocked from moving forward.

Wombat Solar's referendum attempt, and why it failed

Wombat Solar's developer supported the formation of a citizen ballot-issue committee, Citizens Against Government Overreach (CAGO), to try the same referendum playbook that had worked for Apex against the wind ban -- gather enough valid voter signatures to force the June 2025 solar ban onto a future ballot for voters to decide directly. Unlike the wind referendum, this one didn't get that far: CAGO engaged a third-party firm to collect signatures, but the drive fell short of the number of valid signatures required to qualify, and CAGO ultimately withdrew its petition. Wombat Solar has said it continues to evaluate its options and remains engaged with local landowners who support the project, but as of this research pass, the countywide solar ban stands unchallenged at the ballot box.

What this means if you own land, or are buying land, in Crawford County

If you've been approached about a new wind lease anywhere in Crawford County, treat that inquiry with real skepticism given the 2022 restricted-area designation and the decisive referendum that upheld it -- any new large-scale wind project would need to overcome that standing county-level prohibition, which voters themselves have already ratified once. If you've been approached about a new solar lease, the June 2025 countywide ban applies to any new proposal, Wombat Solar included, regardless of how favorable public sentiment at the hearing may have been; a landowner hoping to lease ground for solar here is currently blocked by county policy rather than by any lack of developer interest.

If you're evaluating land specifically in or near Cranberry Township within Sycamore Creek Solar's roughly 917-acre footprint, that project is a separate, already-operating-or-under-construction matter, grandfathered in under its 2021 state approval -- confirm directly with the Crawford County Recorder whether a specific parcel carries a recorded lease or easement tied to that project. For any other parcel in the county, confirm the current legal status of both the wind restricted-area designation and the solar ban directly with the Crawford County Commissioners' office before assuming either is permanent or unchallengeable -- Ohio's SB-52 referendum mechanism showed once, with the wind vote, that these county-level decisions can be put directly to voters, and nothing rules out a future petition drive succeeding where CAGO's did not.