County hiring law firm to explore reinvestment zone, amend policies

Young County Commissioners approved hiring Allison, Bass & Magee, LLP to rewrite its abatement policies and begin exploring a reinvestment zone for a potential solar project tax abatement.

The Tapaderos Solar project is a proposed 300 megawatt power facility with 200 megawatts of battery energy storage with an estimated investment of approximately $264.4 million. 

The commissioners met Monday, March 10 to discuss the abatement application by Titus Low Carbon Ventures and the next steps to take. An abatement is the full or partial exemption of taxes of certain property in a reinvestment zone designated by the county for economic development purposes.

County Judge Win Graham spoke with representatives from Wetsel & Lederle, LLP, and Allison, Bass & Magee, LLP, regarding questions from the commissioners concerning the project. 

During one of those discussions, the county judge learned it was necessary to update the abatement policies which have not been revised since March 2021. 

“Our tax abatement policies have expired. They were supposed to have been renewed every two years. If we decided to move forward, the first thing we have to do is fix our tax abatement policies which will possibly require them to reapply,” he said.

Both law firms estimated their legal fees to range from $10,000-20,000, which the commissioners said must be covered by Titus Low Carbon Ventures in order to continue. The commissioners are also still awaiting the results of an environmental impact study.

An independent environmental impact study will take eight to 12 months to complete and incorporates seasons and natural wildlife. The purpose of the study is to understand the impact and try to better the habitat.

One of the questions asked by the county judge was regarding if the project would move forward without a county abatement. 

“They said, ‘Yes, there’s a decent chance they will build it anyway. ...I guarantee you that this isn’t the only project that they’re working on,’” Graham said. “At the end, when they get through the abatement process, they’re going to run the economics, and they’re going to say, ‘Okay, area number one did this so the economics are this. Well, that’s at the top of the list.’ It would just put where you are on their priority list.”

The landowners accepted a lease agreement with the company for the purpose of constructing and operating the project.

The project has an estimated life expectancy of 40-50 years. Construction of the renewable energy solar project is anticipated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2027 and take 12 months.

The project will utilize approximately 1,400 of the 2,200 acres leased, with other areas serving as a buffer area for the project.

Community member Arwin Johnson asked the commissioners if they stood to benefit financially or in any way from the proposed solar farm. With the exception of the county judge, the four commissioners said they had no conflicts of interest.

Graham had previously disclosed that he would not be able to vote on anything related to the solar project due to his conflict of interest.

“I have a service use agreement that I wrote on some minerals. If this does get built there would be some financial consideration to the Allar company on that, so I need to not vote on that,” Graham said.

Olney Economic Development Executive Director Tom Parker spoke to the commissioners regarding the project and said they should devote more time to the reinvestment zone than abatement.

“You could probably do less money over a longer period of time. (With) some of that money, by being in a reinvestment zone, improvements can be made for landowners to give them comfort on what will happen with land values around it. There’s some of that money that can be put back into reserve and into projects that can help offset some of the perceived decrease in value that could potentially happen,” Parker said.

Former County Judge John Bullock, who said he was on the court for multiple wind farm projects and two failed solar projects, said the court does not hold much power to prevent the project but can utilize the abatement as a tool.

“They’re getting federal funding. They’re getting state funding. They’re getting tax abatements, and things like that. They’ve been in the development stages for so long, if they can’t stand on their own without the abatement, we need to do something else,” he said. “I don’t think that they’re going to ever collectively provide the energy that’s necessary for the United States, for the state of Texas, (or) for Young County, for that matter.”

The commissioners will establish a potential reinvestment zone, discuss payment plans and consider granting or denying an abatement in future meetings.