The Batesville City Council met in regular session Tuesday night at the Batesville Municipal Building to discuss a lengthy list of new business.
Entegrity Solar spoke before the council regarding a planned 6.125-megawatt floating solar array and a 125.5-kilowatt solar canopy.
Together the structures would replace approximately 90% of the electricity currently purchased from Entergy and would potentially save the city $800,000 in its first year of operation. Entegrity will be used to provide electricity to the city’s office and facilities in Batesville.
The council unanimously voted to allow Mayor Rick Elumbaugh to enter into any agreements necessary to get this project on the move with Entegrity. The solar array will be floated on a large retention pond at the Batesville Waste Water Treatment facility.
The solar canopy will provide a portion of the city’s power. It will provide a single row of covered parking at the Batesville Aquatics Park and Community Center.
The proposed 6.125-megawatt solar array will be the largest floating solar array in the United States to date. Currently, the largest solar array in the U.S. is located in California.
Upon approvals for the project through all the proper legal channels, the project’s estimated completion date could be sometime in winter 2022.
Another item of note is the first reading of an ordinance that would create an entertainment district in downtown Batesville.
The proposed bounds of the entertainment district are north from the bridge crossings at North Central Avenue and North Broad Street, east to North 4th Street, south to Harrison/Boswell Street from Central Avenue and include Las Playitas Mexican Restaurant and Private Club, and west to State Street from the railroad tracks along Poke Bayou to East College Avenue.
View the map below for the full visual of the proposed entertainment district.
Within the bounds of the entertainment district, patrons would be allowed to purchase and carry out a single, open alcoholic beverage in a designated cup and even into other business, unless a business posts signage prohibits entering with the beverage.
A full list of proposed guidelines and hours of district operation can be viewed below.
The approved container would be a paper or plastic cup imprinted with the logo below and would hold no more than 16 ounces of an alcoholic beverage.
The ordinance to establish the downtown entertainment district moves on to its second reading at the Aug. 24 meeting of the Batesville City Council.
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For information from local physicians about COVID-19 vaccines, click here.
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