BY TERI MADDOX

tmaddox@bnd.com

Belleville officials talked to local "partners" and submitted letters of support from eight civic leaders in preparing the city's application for state incentives to build a solar farm at Mount Hope Cemetery.

But they didn't reach out to the hundreds of families with loved ones buried in the cemetery or 17 neighbors with property abutting it, according to solar farm opponents.

Jesse Berger, who lives near Mount Hope, said documents recently obtained from the Illinois Power Agency through a Freedom of Information Act request show that officials purposely withheld information from the public while much of the decision-making took place.

Specifically, Berger pointed to a 23-page "criteria report" dated Aug. 29, 2023, that was part of the application for incentives.

"While numerous partners and organizations representing the broader community have been contacted, not all intended entities and residents have been engaged in the process yet," it stated.

"This approach was deliberate to temper enthusiasm until the potential awarding of (incentives in the form of renewable energy credits) becomes a reality. Should the project secure the RECs, a broader spectrum of local organizations, environmental advocates, religious institutions, residents, and others will be actively included in the dialogue."

That dialogue never happened, opponents say.

It wasn't until December 2023 that city officials discussed the solar farm at a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting and notified neighbors of potential impacts. In January 2024, Belleville City Council voted to approve a special use permit.

In April 2024, aldermen gave Cliff Cross, former director of economic development, planning and zoning, the go-ahead to move forward with the plan after a closed session at a special meeting.

By July 2024, the city had bought Mount Hope for $1 in a foreclosure auction and signed an agreement for Belleville Solar LLC to lease 25 acres of the property (about the size of 12 city blocks), clear-cut the woods and build a 5megawatt solar farm.

"It was a done deal before people even knew about it," said Natalie Wilson, co-administrator of a Facebook page for a group called Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery, who has about 40 family members buried there.

Officials apparently were communicating with the group's founder, who lives in North Carolina, but they didn't post anything about a proposed solar farm on the Facebook page or try to arrange a meeting with its 200 followers, according to Wilson.

City and solar-company officials reject the claim that they kept information from the public, saying they did their best while trying to quickly meet requirements and deadlines of buying a cemetery in receivership and applying for state incentives to operate a solar farm.

STATE APPROVAL HAPPENED CONCURRENTLY

Two years ago, the city joined forces with Shine Development Partners, a Texas-based company, to apply for incentives through the Illinois Shines program of the Illinois Power Agency. The state approval process ran concurrent with the local process.

"The City of Belleville has maintained Mount Hope Cemetery for the past 14 years and intends to purchase it outright as soon as practicable," Cross wrote in a letter dated Aug. 29, 2023, as part of the application. "Immediately upon acquisition, the City of Belleville fully intends to develop and build a (solar farm)."

Illinois Shines incentives take the form of renewable-energy credits that can be sold to Ameren Illinois and other utilities. They're valued at up to $7.2 million for the Mount Hope project.

The program administrator approved Belleville's Part 1 application in late December 2023, and the Illinois Commerce Commission OK'd a contract in early January 2024 to guide the sale of credits, Illinois Power Agency Chief Legal Counsel Kelly Turner told the BND last year.

"We had no idea any of this was happening," Wilson said.

Today, Berger and Wilson are leading a campaign against the solar farm. As of Tuesday, 655 people had signed a petition called "Save Mount Hope Cemetery" on the Change.org website. Many support renewable energy, but not cutting down trees to build a solar farm at a historic cemetery.

Opponents argue that such a large tract of green space and wildlife habitat in an urban area should be used for a park or nature preserve, that an industrial development would destroy Mount Hope's character and sanctity and that state law prohibits cemeteries from being used for commercial purposes.

The Mount Hope property covers 132 acres, including about 55 acres of burial grounds. The solar farm is planned on the east side, which is largely wooded going down to Schoenberger Creek. Officials have promised that a buffer zone of trees would hide the solar arrays from public view. Opponents say that's impossible.

Belleville attorney Alex Enyart posted a second petition called "Support Solar in Belleville!" in mid-July on the Change- .org website. As of Tuesday, 59 people had signed it.

But Enyart said Monday he's no longer supporting the Mount Hope project because he's come to realize that it would destroy a forest ecosystem and possibly cause more flooding in East St. Louis.

"I listened to other people's opinions, took them into consideration and decided to change my mind," he said. "I'm not saying I'm against it. I've gone from pro to neutral."

JUGGLING REQUIREMENTS AND DEADLINES

Former Mayor Patty Gregory, whose administration initiated the idea for a solar farm at Mount Hope and ushered it through the application process, couldn't be reached for comment.

Cross and Gregory had promoted the project as good for the abandoned cemetery and local taxpayers because lease payments could help cover the costs of maintenance ($100,000 a year) and badly needed repairs to its roads, mausoleum and chapel.

Low-income residents and other solar-farm subscribers would be eligible for discounts on electricity, they said, and Shine Development Partners, which owns Belleville Solar LLC, had agreed to donate to local causes, including $50,000 for Mount Hope improvements such as a walking trail, meditation pavilion or community garden.

Cross, who left his Belleville job in June to take a position out of state, said Monday that officials were faced with a myriad of requirements and deadlines related to the cemetery purchase and Illinois Shines application.

"I don't know if there's a perfect process that makes everybody happy," he said. "I can tell you that our intent was to have a good-faith effort to create a project that was beneficial to the entire community."

Rachael Cornick, director of operations for Shine Development Partners, said representatives of her company and StraightUp Solar, the local installer, worked hard to reach out to as many people as possible representing diverse interests in the community.

The Illinois Shines program is competitive, with applications coming from all over the state. Cornick said officials viewed their chances of getting an incentive package for the Mount Hope project as a "longshot," so they were limited in moving forward.

On Monday, Mayor Jenny Gain Meyer described the situation at that time, when she was city clerk, as a "Catch 22." The city didn't want to buy Mount Hope without revenue from a solar farm but couldn't get state incentives without owning the land.

"My true opinion, my belief, is that the city should have never taken ownership of the cemetery," Meyer said.

"But we did, and now we have to figure it out. We have to bring in some sort of revenue for the maintenance and repairs that need to be done, for the people who are buried there and their loved ones."

A third community meeting on the solar farm, which is required under Illinois Shines guidelines, will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Welcome Center of the Southwestern Illinois Justice & Workplace Development Campus (formerly Lindenwood University).

Meyer said the meeting will end promptly at 7 p.m. so it doesn't become repetitive or a "spectacle." After her introduction and a presentation by solar companies, a public-comment period will allow each audience member to speak for two minutes.

"I understand people are not happy about (the solar farm)," Meyer said. "The city's position is we are moving forward."

COMMUNITY-DRIVEN' SOLAR FARM

Beyond local politics, Berger and Wilson maintain that decision-making on the Mount Hope solar farm has lacked the transparency and community involvement that's required under state guidelines.

The project is categorized as a "community driven" solar farm. That requires community benefits and "meaningful involvement" by residents in the planning process, according to the Illinois Shines website.

"A community-driven solar farm is supposed to involve the community, the people who are affected by it," Wilson said.

Wilson said officials should have been talking to Mount Hope families and neighbors who would be directly impacted by the solar farm two years ago, instead of civic leaders with no real connection.

Wilson also questioned the integrity of their letters of support, which were one-paragraph form letters, all dated Aug. 24, 2023.

"The undersigned has expressed enthusiastic support for a community driven community solar project at the Mt Hope Cemetery," they read. "The community of Belleville, its civic leaders and organizations recognize the positive impact this project will provide, from direct economic benefits to jobs training and civic pride and involvement."

Letters were submitted in the names of Nick Mance, president of Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville; Brian Mentzer, former superintendent of Belleville Township High School District 201; Courtney Adams, former Belleville Main Street manager; Larry McClean, former executive director of St. Clair County Housing Authority; Michael Needles, former president of Home Builders and Remodelers Metro East Association; Rick Stubblefield, executive director of St. Clair County Intergovernmental Grants Department; Wendy Pfeil, former president and CEO of Greater Belleville Chamber of Commerce; and E. Gayle Schneider, founder of Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery.

Some of these entities could be indirectly affected by the solar farm. For example, Shines has promised to donate $30,000 for solar-related training at District 201's Center for Academic & Vocational Excellence.

On Monday, Mentzer said he didn't recall submitting a letter or getting information on the solar farm, but he noted that it's common for officials seeking grants to ask for letters of support from local institutions to bolster their applications.

Adams, who now serves as Belleville's tourism coordinator, said someone may have asked her to submit a letter, but she didn't remember getting information on the solar farm.

"I don't recall the specifics of it, but if it has my name on it, I'm sure that I probably did sign it," Stubblefield said. "I remember having conversations back at the time when this all started that this was an avenue to do something positive and help maintain that property."

It's not unusual for grant applications to include templated letters of support, Cross said, and anyone asked to submit a letter for the solar farm would have been briefed on it.

FRIENDS FOUNDER ACTED ALONE

The criteria report with the Illinois Shines application characterized Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery as a key supporter of the solar farm.

"This organization has been engaged to discuss the importance of the project and its long-term impact on the site," it stated. "In conversations, with their group contact, it is the City of Belleville's understanding the completion of this project could positively impact the continued operation of the Cemetery.

"Specifically, the completion of this project could contribute to future investment into the total site creating a long-term strategy to maintain the Cemetery as a historic landmark within the City."

Wilson and Berger say this characterization borders on fraudulent because the group isn't organized, and officials talked to no one in it besides Schneider, the founder, who lives in North Carolina. No meeting was called, and no vote was taken.

Wilson said most families with loved ones buried at Mount Hope were unaware of the solar-farm plan until recently, and many oppose it.

"(Schneider) was not authorized to speak on behalf of the 27,000 buried at Mount Hope, their next-of-kin, current plot holders, the (655) citizens who signed the petition, the 200 members of the informal Facebook group or the residents of Belleville," Wilson said.

Schneider has never lived in Belleville, but she plans to be buried at Mount Hope next to her mother and other family members.

Schneider said she formed the Friends group in 2014, after the cemetery's former owner abandoned it, leading to receivership and neglect. She wanted to establish a non-profit organization that could raise money for maintenance and improvements.

Schneider said email inquiries to Mount Hope families had largely gone unanswered in recent years, and she wasn't on Facebook. She began talking to the receiver and Belleville officials and learned that the city might be willing to buy the cemetery.

Schneider has described the solar-farm plan as imperfect but the best possible option to ensure that Mount Hope survives and thrives.

"The city only took (the cemetery) on when they thought that they had a plan to basically use some of the unused land in the back of the cemetery to finance its upkeep," she said in June.

Under a revised lease agreement, Belleville Solar LLC will provide the city with an initial $250,000 lump-sum payment and $50,000 to $55,000 a year in annual rent payments.

COMMUNITY MEETINGS WERE TESTY

Officials held the first community meeting on the Mount Hope solar farm in September 2024, two months after the city signed the original lease with Belleville Solar LLC. A second meeting took place in December 2024.

In September, representatives of Shine Development Partners and StraightUp Solar presented a solar-farm design, answered questions and heard complaints from about 30 people.

The solar companies took the feedback seriously, Cornick said. In December, Dan Hancock, StraightUp Solar's senior commercial project developer, came back with a more "environmentally friendly" design.

One large uniform section was replaced with three smaller ones (reduced to 19 acres) that follow the area's "natural topography." They moved solar arrays farther from the creek bed and included "animal-friendly" fencing and thoroughfares for wildlife.

Opponents say that didn't address their main concerns about clearcutting hundreds of trees to build a solar farm and how it would affect Mount Hope's character. Cornick and Hancock plan to unveil more updates at the third community meeting on Thursday.

Cornick said she hopes people will "hear us out" and keep an open mind.

"We've taken advice," she said. "We've listened to the community, and we've made changes that impact our bottom line in a huge way. I can't fix the past. I can only explain what happened with the timeline and give our perspective on how we went about things."

The first two community meetings got testy at times. Officials were talking about how to move the Mount Hope project forward while opponents were focused on how to stop it.

Opportunities for community involvement in solar-farm planning haven't matched what the city promised in the criteria report.

"The City of Belleville is committed to fostering ongoing community involvement by hosting monthly public meetings throughout the development and construction phases of the project," it stated. "These gatherings are designed to offer up to-date and transparent information about the project's progress and to elicit valuable feedback on additional project development concepts. "

Schneider has called a Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery meeting from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Belleville City Hall. In a Facebook post, she emphasized that the purpose is not to debate pros and cons of a solar farm but to discuss how to help the city maintain the cemetery.

"I am interested in setting up a non-profit called the Mount Hope Cemetery Historical Preservation Foundation," she wrote. "With its non-profit status, this entity will be more favorably considered by prospective donors.

"The goal would hopefully be to grow a sizable endowment which, by virtue of the earnings it generates annually, can guarantee the upkeep and maintenance of the Cemetery in perpetuity."