Adam Edelen, the CEO of Edelen Renewables and former Kentucky auditor, admitted that he thought Thursday’s Urban County Council vote to approve his massive solar project on an old Lexington landfill was a formality.

Edelen appeared to have won council’s support in prior city meetings to lease 357 acres of an old Lexington landfill for a large-scale solar project, despite concerns about how much he would pay in the agreement.

Then the Lexington Model Airplane Club showed up.

For more than 20 years, the Lexington Model Airplane Club has leased space on the same plot of land that Edelen wants to build on. The 67-year-old club has an airfield on the property, and hosts training events and competitions for members flying large remote-control custom models through rural Fayette County skies.

Several members of the airplane club showed up to speak in front of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council Thursday, pushing council to delay the project. After hearing from the club, the council unanimously voted to postpone its final vote to March 26.

Their lease expires on April 22, and the club’s president has been informed it will not be renewed. Edelen’s lease is effective on April 27, pending council approval.

“I have a grandson who … joined the Air Force because of what he learned as a kid flying airplanes,” club member Curtis Adams told the council Thursday. “He is now earning his commercial pilot certificate because he got into model aviation as a kid.”

“The solar proposal will take away our airfield. This action is being taken, it seems, with little to no regard for (the club).”

Members hope the two-week postponement allows the organization to work with the city to either find a new site or a way to remain on the property alongside Edelen’s solar project.

Richard Dugas, an administrative officer for the city who has overseen the Haley Pike solar project, said the city floated the idea of a shared-use agreement to the company.

“(Edelen’s) insurance provider said, ‘Absolutely not. That’s too much of a liability,’” Dugas told the council.

The insurance company is worried the model airplanes could crash into and damage the solar panels or other on-site equipment, Dugas said.

Dugas also cited a state law prohibiting unmanned aircraft from flying directly over power generation sites.

“The proposal that they’ve talked about with sharing facilities, it’s probably technically not available,” Dugas said.

Edelen hopes to reach agreement, but is ‘prepared to walk away’

Edelen hopes the company, the club and the city can reach some kind of deal in the coming weeks.

“If there is a way to accommodate their desire to fly model airplanes with our ability to provide the green energy that literally will power the next generation of economic development, then I’m for it,” Edelen told the Herald-Leader.

But he added, “we’ve got to come to some sort of conclusion soon ... I’m hopeful that we can. But if we can’t, we’re fully prepared to walk away.”

Edelen fears the council’s additional delay could jeopardize the company’s ability to secure financing from investors, and may make it harder for construction to begin in time to earn federal tax credits that President Donald Trump’s administration chose to sunset starting in July.

The tax credits, implemented by former President Joe Biden’s administration, offered incentive to invest in renewable energy. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act set an expiration date on those incentives. Construction has to start on this project by June 30 in order for the credits to be awarded.

“The fact of the matter is, we’re not working against (the council’s) clock — we’re working against the clock of the federal government,” he said.

Why the Lexington Model Airplane Club is pushing back

Michael Breunig, president of the Lexington Model Airplane Club, said he’s tried to work with city officials to find a new location for the group. But it’s not as easy as simply building a miniature runway on a random field.

The club’s current Haley Pike home has a specific certification from the Federal Aviation Administration allowing the club to fly models up to 1,600 feet in the air. It would be hard to earn that certification in other parts of Lexington.

Dugas suggested a temporary home at the newly renovated training pad on Old Frankfort Pike. The blacktop pad, used during the week by the city to train trash truck drivers and other drivers for city vehicles, has bleachers, lighting, electricity and pavement that could be used for parking or for planes taking off.

The club would be able to use it on most weekends and holidays when it’s not being used by the city, according to Dugas.

Breunig sees issues with that location.

“There’s too much traffic on New Circle Road,” he said. “The FAA probably wouldn’t approve it for that reason. But on top of that, it’s too close to the airport.”

Any other site would have to be on the eastern end of Fayette County, far away from the Blue Grass Airport’s property and separated from major roadways, according to Breunig.

Breunig says his efforts to work with the city haven’t been productive.

“He was extremely condescending,” Breunig said of Dugas, “and he said that even if the solar panel (lease) didn’t go through, that the city had plans to use the site, and that we were going to be evicted eventually.”

Dugas told the council he sent a letter to the club in September 2025 letting them know their lease would not be renewed. He did not hear back until January, he said.

The council did allocate funds to develop a master plan that would recommend future uses for the Haley Pike landfill, Dugas told the Herald-Leader. Work on that master plan is currently paused, pending the eventual outcome of the Edelen lease, but would include recommended uses for the Lexington Model Airplane Club’s current site, he said.

Breunig told the Herald-Leader he didn’t respond to Dugas initially because the letter was clear about there being no chance for renewal or negotiation.

Instead, Breunig has been in contact with 12th District Councilmember Hil Boone, whose district includes the Haley Pike property, since last July.

“I specifically asked, ‘Is there any stopping this?’ And he said, ‘No, I doubt it, because the mayor really wants it,’” Breunig said.

Boone told the Herald-Leader Friday his discussion was more nuanced than that.

“I don’t think that I meant that they were screwed from day one,” Boone said. “We’ve walked them through and tried to find other locations. ... I’m not part of the club, but it seemed like (other locations) could have worked.”

“They’re good community members, and they’re doing the right thing,” he continued. “We want to find a home for them. Whether that kills a deal with Edelen? That’s above my pay grade.”

Breunig said he reached out to Dugas after Boone wasn’t able to help him find a suitable location, although he and Boone’s office have still been in communication as recently as two weeks ago.

“We have tried, and continue to try to work with them,” city spokesperson Susan Straub told the Herald-Leader. “We are currently searching for other alternatives. It is hard to find an appropriate location because there are significant safety concerns.”

‘It’s not our job to negotiate with the model airplane club’

Breunig said the club has not heard from Edelen Renewables at any point.

Edelen confirmed that with the Herald-Leader.

“These are great people who certainly are practicing their hobby at the site, and I have no ill will towards any of them,” Edelen said, “but it’s not our job to negotiate with the model airplane club.”

Edelen has instead found himself in extended negotiations with the city after the council delayed advancing the lease agreement multiple times. Several council members argued the company will be paying too low a rate on its lease and will not be supporting a robust enough community benefits agreement.

If approved, the project will span 357 acres and bring in over $107,000 in annual revenue for the city, though that’s markedly less than what previous studies had estimated the city could earn from a solar field.

The project has also been pitched by Mayor Linda Gorton and agricultural preservationists as an alternative to building solar fields on prime Lexington farmland. Whether or not agriculutral land should house solar farms has been the center of a years-long debate in local government that still isn’t finished.

Despite many questions and much frustration, council decided in February to support Edelen’s proposal to bring green energy to a contaminated property unsuitable for most kinds of development.

Neither Edelen nor any staff from his company were present at the Thursday meeting, despite the fact that it was the final vote on the $80 million project.

“After a unanimous vote of the council to advance the lease in work session, we were told that this was perfunctory,” Edelen said of Thursday’s vote. “In retrospect, I wish we had been there.”

The absence didn’t go unnoticed by members of council.

“This is particularly frustrating for me, as this is a citizen council which is made up of people who volunteer to run for these offices. And, you know, considering that this is something that is requiring a high level of subject-matter expertise, I do wish we had somebody here who could speak to that,” 4th District Council member Emma Curtis said in the meeting, satirically quoting Edelen’s description of the council in a Feb. 26 story from the Herald-Leader.

“I suppose we will just have to make our decisions as uninformed electeds,” she ended.

Edelen said Thursday it’s time for the council to make a final call about the project.

“We have to decide in the next two weeks whether we believe that a landfill site should be repurposed as the largest landfill-to-solar project in the country, or whether it maintains its current status quo in producing nothing relevant to the local community,” he said.

Breunig and other Lexington Model Airplane Club members said they find statements like Edelen’s frustrating.

Members spoke over and over again Thursday night, sharing stories of multiple generations of families and friends bonding over flying and members who started as young children being inspired to become pilots or engineers in their adulthood.

“For some reason — it didn’t matter whether it was on the news, whether it was on the radio, anywhere — anyone that spoke about the solar panel project always said, ‘I’ve been out there, and there’s absolutely nothing out there,’” Breunig said.

“You can imagine how that makes us feel.”

Uniquely Kentucky

Otters splashed through KY during heavy rain. They’re more common here than you might think

Get one year of unlimited digital access for $159.99

#ReadLocal