The Carbondale City Council tabled a request for a special use permit to build a solar array on North Marion Street after more than two hours of public comments at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Councilmember Jane Adams made the motion to have at least two more informational meetings in the next 60 days about the solar panel development after several community members said they did not have enough information to move forward with the development being put in their community.

Dates and times of the meetings have yet to be determined.

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Mayor Joel Fritzler, councilman Lance Jack and City Manager Kevin Baity said there have already been several meetings and an open house to educate the community on the development. But the vote to table the discussion was unanimous.

Brightfields requested the special use permit to develop a solar array of panels in General Agriculture and General Industrial districts on the site where Koppers Wood Treatment used to be. The Environmental Protection Agency has been conducting environmental cleanup on the site for more than 10 years after high levels of creosote was discovered.

The request for the permit states, “Brightfields has significant experience working on distinct aspects of the remediation and redevelopment of contaminated properties for use as solar energy generation facilities.”

The resolution also includes recommended conditions gathered from the Planning Commission’s public hearing Sept. 18. The conditions include controlling all dust during the construction of the project and making sure the contaminated soil that has been buried at the site will not be disrupted and the applicant be given three years to begin construction to allow time for clearance from the EPA.

Several community members brought up the damage that Koppers left on the community by contaminating the soil and causing illnesses. The residents were skeptical of the byproducts from solar energy, as it has not been used long enough to research lasting impacts.

Pete Pedersen, a representative of Brighfields Development said solar panels have been used since the late 1970s so they are a relatively new form of energy.

“There is no project that has taken place for a long period of time, but there has been a policy in place that promotes this type of project.”

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Rodney Morris, who lives 150 feet from the site, said his soil has not been tested, and until the community knows if their land is contaminated, it was not responsible for the city council to approve the permit.

“I live across the street and I didn’t know what was going on over there,” he said. “Until some more testing is done in the area, and the community at large is aware of what is going on out there, I would ask you to deny the permit.”

Morris presented a petition saying the same thing signed by at least 150 members of the community.

Resident Pepper Holder said the history of the land needs to be kept in mind when making a decision of what to put there next.

“In the history of Koppers plant, the city could have and should have done more for people,” Holder said.

But, councilman Jack said he wanted concrete questions from residents so he could do his job as a councilman to find the answers.

Michael Brazley, an associate professor in the school of architecture, asked Jack to give him a week to do some more research on the development and he would have specific questions.

Catherine Field said while she does not live in the neighborhood, the decision does affect her community.

“I am generally in favor of solar power … but that is not the real issue,” she said. “The northeast community of Carbondale many years ago was the victim of environmental racism.”

Field said there were two messes the city needed to deal with; the fact that the plant dumped waste into the neighborhood for years and the fact that the neighborhood now has no reason to trust what is being said to them.

“I would encourage the council to table this,” Field said. “This is a neighborhood that has earned your consideration.”

Brighfields Development said they would be at the future meetings to further discuss the project.

When one resident attempted to speak for the second time and Fritzler asked her to sit down, she spoke over him and was removed from the room. At least 20 members of the audience followed her out.