Litchfield Expected to Waive Review of Elm Lawn Solar, County Committee Told

Article Summary: County Board Administration told the Development & Personnel Committee on Aug. 3 that the Litchfield city administrator’s office anticipates the city “waiving jurisdiction of review of the Elm Lawn Solar project.” No motion was recorded, and the minutes do not say what happens next.

Elm Lawn Solar Key Points:

The committee was shown an email from the Litchfield city administrator anticipating that the city will waive jurisdiction of review of the project.

The item was listed as “Elm Lawn Solar Project Update/Approval,” but no motion or vote appears in the minutes.

The minutes do not state when a waiver would occur, in what form, or which body would review the project instead.

Litchfield moved earlier in 2026 to assert authority over the project; the county’s own records describe that authority two different ways.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — The City of Litchfield anticipates waiving its jurisdiction over review of the Elm Lawn Solar project, the Montgomery County Board’s Development & Personnel Committee was told on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026.

Under the agenda item “Elm Lawn Solar Project Update/Approval,” County Board Administration shared an email from the Litchfield city administrator that, in the minutes’ words, anticipates the city “waiving jurisdiction of review of the Elm Lawn Solar project.”

That single sentence is the entire record of the item. No motion was made and no vote was taken. The minutes do not record any committee discussion, do not date the email, do not name its author, and do not reproduce it. They do not state when a waiver might be formally issued, what form it would take, whether Litchfield’s city council would have to act, or which body would then review the project.

Background: A Disputed Jurisdiction

The project has been before county committees since spring. Litchfield moved in May 2026 to assert authority over Elm Lawn Solar, and a public hearing scheduled for May 27 was cancelled.

The county’s own records have described the basis for that authority in two different ways. The Coordinating Committee’s May 28 minutes describe Litchfield exercising “extra territorial jurisdiction” over the project; the Development & Personnel Committee’s June 1 minutes describe “supervisory authority.” Those are not obviously the same legal mechanism, and no county document reviewed reconciles them. An email to the county from Assistant State’s Attorney Andrew Affrunti dated May 14, 2026, has been cited in county minutes as addressing the question.

Because no motion was recorded, the committee took no action on the item, and nothing in the Aug. 3 minutes commits the county, the city or the project’s developer to anything. Any county action on the project would require a recommendation from a committee and a vote of the full Montgomery County Board.

The minutes do not name the developer of Elm Lawn Solar, and no county document reviewed connects the project to any of the other renewable energy companies that have appeared in Montgomery County proceedings this year.