Solar Firm Erred When Disputing Stop-Work Order, Ohio Court Says

An Ohio township’s zoning inspector’s order to stop construction of a solar facility on hundreds of acres of rural land was lawful, a state appeals court ruled Friday.

Woodstock Solar Project LLC—which intends to build a facility with a 40-megawatt capacity, enough to power about 6,700 homes, in Rush Township—wrongly went straight to the courts over a stop-work order, the Ohio Court of Appeals, Second District said. The company should’ve first appealed to the township’s Board of Zoning Appeals, Judge Christopher B. Epley (R) wrote.

“Through the administrative appeals process, there was an opportunity to be heard in a ...