Residents in the Stockton area are moving forward with a citizen-led zoning effort as community members continue organizing opposition to proposed utility-scale solar developments in North Baldwin County.

The Baldwin County Commission accepted a Notice of Intent on March 3 to begin the zoning process for Planning District 3, moving the district into step five of the county’s 12-step procedure for establishing zoning standards in unincorporated areas. Under Alabama law, zoning in Baldwin County is citizen-driven, meaning districts can only come under county zoning authority after residents initiate the process and approve it through a public vote.

At step five, residents have 120 days to collect signatures from at least 10% of registered voters in the district.

Jessica Waters, public information manager for the county commission, said the Baldwin County Board of Registrars identified approximately 1,235 registered voters within Planning District 3, meaning the group needs 124 signatures to reach 10%.

Waters said the petition period began March 3, the same day the commission accepted the notice, and will run through July 1.

Once submitted, the petition will be reviewed by Baldwin County Probate Court, which has 45 days to certify or reject the signatures. If the signatures are verified, the next step would be scheduling an election within the district.

“If the petition signatures are sufficient as certified by the probate judge, the county commission will instruct the probate judge to schedule an election within the district no later than 90 days after the signatures are approved,” Waters said.

While the county process continues, local organizers opposing the proposed solar developments say residents moved quickly to meet the initial signature requirement.

Meagan Fowler, president of the grassroots organization Friends of the Tensaw River, said volunteers reached the minimum signature goal within two days.

“They gave us 120 days to get 124 signatures,” Fowler said. “We set up a signature event at the Stockton Heritage Museum on March 5, and by March 6 we had exactly 124 signatures.”

Fowler said the effort has drawn support from multiple nearby communities facing similar proposals.

“This is not just Stockton,” Fowler said. “It’s Stockton and Raven and Tensaw. I don’t know how many times you’ve seen three different zones trying to band together for one cause.”

The organizing effort first began online through a Facebook group called Stop Solar in Stockton, which formed after residents learned about the proposed Meta-linked development. The proposal, approved in December by the Alabama Public Service Commission, would place two large-scale solar fields near Interstate 65 and Alabama Highway 59 in north Baldwin County. The land is tied to a renewable energy agreement supporting Meta Platform's data center in Montgomery and would be developed by Silicon Ranch. The project has drawn strong opposition from residents who cite concerns about wetlands, waterways connected to the Tensaw Delta and the lack of local zoning authority in the unincorporated area.

As the Stop Solar movement grew, organizers decided to form an official grassroots organization under the name Friends of the Tensaw River.

“We obviously considered forming our grassroots organization with the same name as the Facebook group, but it quickly was apparent that this issue was much bigger than just this one site in this one community,” Fowler said. “We wanted to be able to defend all of our communities in North Baldwin and on the Delta who are under threat from these utility scale solar sites and also any future threats to our ecosystem or way of life.”

Fowler said the name also reflects a historical connection to an earlier environmental effort in the area. While researching past development battles, residents discovered a letter dated March 17, 2003, sent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by a group using the same name.

Soon after, Fowler said an original member of that group contacted organizers.

“He revealed that he was an original member of the Friends of the Tensaw River and had fought alongside Davida Hastie and others to save this area from industrialization,” Fowler said.

According to Fowler, the man, identified as David Peterson, offered encouragement to the current effort.

Fowler said reviving the name felt like continuing that earlier work.

“We naturally landed on the same name our predecessors had and felt that this name captured our desire to be able to defend this whole area, both now and in the future,” Fowler said.

Fowler said the group also plans to support fundraising and legal efforts related to the proposed solar projects.

“This fight is far more than the 4,500-acre site that is gaining the most attention now,” Fowler said. “There is also another almost 3,000-acre site slated for north of Stockton as well.”

For now, organizers say the immediate focus remains on completing the zoning petition process and continuing discussions about the future of development in the area.

Gabriella Chavez is a Report for America corps member who writes about growth and development in Baldwin County and our natural spaces for Gulf Coast Media. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://tinyurl.com/yaf8yf5n.