Harford County residents express concerns about solar farm plans in Jarrettsville
Harford County residents say they do not want 45 acres of solar panels placed in their Jarrettsville neighborhood.
"It's a quiet rural community, you can go on your back deck at night and hear the crickets chirping," neighbor Mark Kamyszek said.
Kamyszek fears his home and community might soon be interrupted by a potential solar farm.
"To see that turned into an industrial facility, that will certainly be tough on the residents who live here, many for generations," Kamyszek said.
Plans for a solar farm in Jarrettsville
According to an application submitted to the Maryland Public Service Commission, Chrome Hill Solar LLC aims to create a five-megawatt solar farm on the land near the intersection of Chrome Hill and Rigdon.
According to the Renewable Energy Certainty Act, which was passed last year, the state now approves solar farms, regardless of local restrictions.
"The state is essentially inviting out-of-state corporations into the state of Maryland to build these solar facilities on agricultural land, and they have no reason for preservation, no reason for reservations other than profiting off of Maryland's most strategic and finite resource, which is our agricultural land," Kamyszek said.
Why are Harford County residents concerned?
Kamyszek worries about glare from the panels and what they will do to the soil on the land in the long run.
"The corporations themselves say they will be returned in the same state it was in before the solar panels are put on the property," Kamyszek said. "I don't know how that will be possible when this will be an industrial facility put on agricultural farm land."
It's a concern echoed by Harford County Executive, Bob Cassilly, who said in a 2025 statement, "The result is that farmland with the best quality soils for food production is being sacrificed to the highest bidder for solar farms."
The land is privately owned, and when we went to the farm to talk with someone about their decision to sell the property, it was vacant.
The owner, Sam Fielder, died in 2021, according to an online obituary. It's not clear who owns the property now.
"The issue is larger than my backyard and me not wanting to see solar panels in my backyard," Kamyszek said. "Yeah, that's not something I want but it's larger than that. I believe Harford County and the rural communities of Maryland are under attack by this legislation and sod it is much bigger than my backyard."
Neighbors told CBS News Baltimore the will continue to fight this plan, not just for their community, but for communities all across the state.
