JARRETTSVILLE, Md. — A scenic 122-acre field in rural Jarrettsville would become home to 34 football fields’ worth of solar panels and chain-link fence for the next 40 years if developers get their way within sight of Jody and John Varvaris’ backyard.
Opposing solar farm in Jarrettsville
The land is part of a multigenerational family farm with a rich past, and at least for one family member, an even richer future.
“Then when the surveyors showed up, we found out it was… the farmer, my brother, who was doing solar panels,” Jody told us.
“So he inherited the land? That’s how he has the right to do this?” we asked.
“He did,” she responded. “Yes.”
“And how many siblings are on his side in this matter?”
“None. There’s five of us total counting my brother, and nobody’s on his side.”
Signs have gone up surrounding the site in opposition to the solar farm, and an online petition has taken off.
“We have over 800 people signing. I haven’t checked in the last half hour, but it’s been going up, and that’s in three days,” said Jody’s husband, John Varvaris. “We had a community last Thursday, had 90 people there, all of which are opposed to this development.”
Varvaris says county zoning would not allow what amounts to an industrial use on agricultural land, but state lawmakers passed the Renewable Energy Certainty Act last year, which bypasses that authority and leaves it up to the Maryland Public Service Commission.
The controversial law allows solar farms on up to five percent of all of the agricultural land in any given county before local zoning has to be consulted.
Now, opponents will have to argue the potential negative impacts such a project could have on local water bodies, wildlife, and the environment in hopes that Big Brother doesn’t rubber-stamp a project enabled by Jody Varvaris’ younger brother, who stands to profit at the rest of the family’s expense.
“I grew up in the house next door,” said Jody. “My sister lives there now. We’re here. My daughter lives next door, and these neighbors I’ve known for 65 years, so it’s just hard.”
