A Mechanicsburg company trying to establish a solar power project in Muncy Township is facing a legal hurdle.

Solar Renewable Energy must prove that the glare it generates does not have a significant negative impact on neighboring or adjacent uses, Lycoming County Judge William P. Carlucci said in a ruling released this week.

Carlucci’s order followed an objection filed by landowners to the application for the proposed solar panel farm on undeveloped farmland along Quaker Church Road near the village of Pennsdale, near Route 220 and Interstate 180.

The alleged approval of a special regulation for renewable solar energy was revoked, Carlucci justified this in writing with the following reasoning: “The court concludes that the company has fulfilled almost all objective requirements of the municipality’s development plan regulations for a special permit to use a solar system.”

However, the company has not complied with the clearly formulated requirements that stipulate that the planned solar plant “shall be located so that concentrated solar radiation or glare does not fall on nearby buildings, streets or beyond the boundaries of the property on which it is located.”

According to the subsection of the municipality’s building code, the burden of proof is on the applicant that the glare generated will not have a significant adverse effect on neighboring or adjacent uses.

However, this does not mean the end of the offer for the solar company; this is also a point in the order summary.

Carlucci’s states that the ruling does not prevent the company or any other interested party from filing a revised special exemption application or a new application.

This decision is also not intended to indicate that no special regulation is applicable for the planned solar energy plant or that the district’s tax property is not a suitable location for the solar energy plant.