Notre Dame seeks zoning change to develop 3,400 solar panels just off SR 933

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - The University of Notre Dame has plans to increase its power production.

Those plans call for placing 3,400 solar panels in a field off State Road 933, just north of WNDU Studios.

It’s an area that once housed the WNDU Newschopper 16 Helipad. Due to heavy pedestrian traffic in the area, the field will be secured on three sides with a six-foot chain-link fence.

“What they propose to do, and what you see on the preliminary site plan, is approximately 3,400 solar panels that would provide, I think, about 1.1 million kilowatts for the university as a supplemental energy source for them to move away from the coal and the types of uses they had now for energy sources,” explained Mike Danch, of Danch, Harner & Associates. “So this is kind of just a step in that direction.

A zoning change needed to advance the project was sent to the St. Joseph County Council with a favorable recommendation.

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