Huntingburg approves water rate hike, settles Crossvine AES dispute

Huntingburg residents and businesses will start paying more for water bills rendered after July 1, with the city’s approved 8.9% increase adding about $3 a month to the average household using 2,000 gallons. That bill will rise from $33.32 to about $36.30 after the Huntingburg Common Council and Utility Board adopted Water Rate Ordinance No. 2026-15.

The rate vote came after a public hearing on May 14 in which consultants and Water Superintendent Jerry Austin were available to answer questions, but no one from the public spoke. City records show the Huntingburg Water Department serves more than 2,400 accounts and operates with 7 full-time employees and 3 part-time employees, including management.

The same meeting also produced a settlement in the long-running Crossvine AES dispute, a fight that has divided residents over a 100-megawatt AC commercial solar energy system and energy storage project west of the Huntingburg Airport and east of the Town of Holland. The project is partly within Huntingburg’s jurisdictional area and has been one of the city’s most closely watched land-use cases.

Residents spoke for more than an hour before the council acted. Special counsel Joshua Claybourn told the board that Crossvine had refiled and that the city could face litigation if it tried to defend a hard moratorium in court. The council then approved the settlement and moved to rescind the moratorium, while also asking the planning commission to revisit rules for solar, battery storage and data centers.

The settlement adds screening, neighbor protections, greater setbacks, incident monitoring equipment, location limits for battery energy storage system storage and investment in emergency services. Those terms came after months of conflict that had already pushed the city to tighten its land-use rules.

On April 1, Huntingburg adopted Ordinance 2026-14, changing commercial solar energy facilities in agricultural districts from a permitted use to a special exception use. Before that, on March 11, the Huntingburg Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously denied Crossvine Solar One LLC’s appeal after deciding its development plan had expired.

The twin votes left city leaders trying to balance utility costs, growth management and legal risk. They also showed how much pressure remains on Huntingburg as it writes the next set of rules for large energy projects near homes, the airport and the edge of Holland Road Northeast.