PLATTSMOUTH - Cass County Solar has filed an appeal of the Cass County Board’s denial of a permit for a commercial solar farm near Murray.

A petition says commissioners denied a conditional use permit after a four-year permitting process and despite the significant economic development and tax revenue the solar farm would have brought. It notes that landowners who voluntarily leased their land are denied benefit of the 265 megawatt conversion system.

The petition for an appeal says county commissioners provided reasons for denial, including the dominate theme of the county’s comprehensive plan is to preserve agricultural land. The petition says the solar farm would occupy about less than half of one percent of the county’s 299,000 acres in agricultural use.

Commissioners also said the project should not be located so close to Murray as to be within its extraterritorial jurisdiction and the transitional ag zone is not the most beneficial zone.

The county’s reasons say while the comprehensive plan mentions solar as a possible source of renewable energy, the Cass County Solar project will not necessarily serve energy  needs in Cass County. The county claims the project would primarily service residents of Sarpy, Douglas and Lancaster counties.

The county noted opposition to the project by county residents and said tax benefits to schools may not be guaranteed upon transfer of the solar farm to another entity.