KUNA, Idaho — Neighbors who don't want to see farmland south of Kuna turned into a solar farm, tell Idaho News 6 that their signs in opposition to the proposed project were stolen.
- Tuesday the original signs were put up on Robinson Rd, then the next day they were gone. Thursday, new signs replaced the missing ones.
- They say their signs were approved by property owners.
- A police report through Ada County Sheriff has been filed regarding the sign theft.
- Ada County will hold a hearing May 8th for the proposed site.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
"The people that want to build this just look at it as, 'it's just a barren field, who cares?'," said local Farmer Eric Kasper. The signs -- reading 'Stop Solar on Idaho's Ag Ground,' -- were taken on Wednesday.
"That kind of shows us what we're dealing with on the other side. If they don't want to let the word get spread out. That's all we're trying to do, we're trying to get the word spread out to the community," said Dustin Ferdinand, as he showed me time-stamped photos from when they put the signs up, and when they were gone the next day.
"Tuesday the 30th we put up three signs. By 12:30 the next day, they were gone," said Ferdinand.
Rural Community Advocates, the group that placed them along Robinson Rd, say they are trying to raise awareness about the proposed solar farm.
"Let's build solar farms in Ada County, where they belong. Let's not tear apart irrigated farm ground, go against Ada County's comprehensive plan of preserving intensive agriculture in Ada County," said Kasper.
"As us being advocates, we're also trying to find alternative plans for this land," said Ferdinand.
"People are pretty fired up about not having solar, and there is also a lot of neighbors that are fired up that people can do whatever they want with their land," said Kasper.
The land that the signs are on neighbors the land being sold for the solar farm.
"We are in compliance with the landowners, we had permission to put these signs up here," said Ferdinand.
I reached out to the two landowners selling their property, whom I've previously spoken to, and they say they don't know what happened to the signs.
"If the landowners are willing to jump on board with us, we're willing to work with them," said Ferdinand.
A police report was filed shortly after the signs were taken.
"We do have an eye witness, who witnessed a dairy feed truck drive along here, he stopped, jumped out, and cut the signs down with his knife," said Ferdinand.
I requested that report from the Ada County Sheriff's Office but haven't received it yet.
Friday afternoon, I confirmed with ACHD, that the signs appear to be in compliance with Temporary Sign Policy, and that the highway agency did not remove them.
Thursday, new signs replaced the missing ones. The neighbors who paid for and set them up, are looking for any leads. They say they don't want to press charges, they just want their property back.
"It's a value of $950 bucks," said Ferdinand.
