Life next to solar alarm isn’t so sunny
Staff writer
Living across the street from Marion’s new trespassing alarm, Teresa Eads said, has been grating on both the eyes and the ears.
“The light keeps my dad awake at night,” she said. “I sleep at the backside of this house, and I can still hear the stupid thing go off.”
Built by Salina-based Defender Security Trailers, the alarm was installed March 17 at Walnut St. and Orchard Dr., near the city shops.
Eads’ home is across the street, 50 meters away. She is the closest of any resident to the alarm.
The alarm looks a bit like a NASA rover, with a wide base made of solar panels, a skinny neck, and three security cameras for a head.
It is painted bright red and around 12 feet tall.
It rests on four wheels but also is attached to four metal posts in the ground, presumably so strong winds aren’t able to bowl it over.
At night, blue, orange, and red light flashes from the top of the structure. It records 24/7, and anyone who gets too close is met with a loud robotic voice.
A Record reporter triggered the alarm by walking on grass next to it.
“Your presence has been detected,” the alarm said. “Vacate the premises immediately.”
A number of dogs from neighboring houses began barking.
The message repeated itself a few times, then spit out a new one: “Your actions are being viewed and recorded by live operators.”
The purpose of the alarm is to protect solar panels stacked next to it.
Kansas Power Pool is planning to install the panels for a solar farm in a field north of the transfer station.
The alarm’s sensitivity, loudness, and brightness at night have created a nuisance, Eads said.
Eads has heard the alarm go off “a couple dozen” times since it was installed.
“Bunny rabbits can set it off at any time,” she said. “Is it annoying? Yes, very.”
James Ging, chief operating officer of Kansas Power Pool, said the panels were unloaded a few days before the alarm.
They were delivered early so KPP could say it had begun the project and receive 2024 tax credits from the state.
KPP could not find space to put the panels inside, Ging said, so it was decided to leave them out in the open and protect them from thieves with the alarm.
The panels are covered with a tarp to protect against weather, though they were left uncovered for the first couple months, according to Ginny Lind, who lives next to Eads.
“I’m glad they’re covered now,” Lind said. “I was thinking, ‘All we need is a good hailstorm.’”
The alarm often is triggered by animals as well as city workers mowing the lawn around it, Eads said.
Ging also said lawn mowers had tripped the alarm.
After an anonymous resident called the city office late in May complaining about the alarm, city administrator Mark McAnarney emailed Ging, who in turn asked Defender to adjust the settings to make it less sensitive.
Since then, Ging said, he has not heard any complaints.
“I was assuming things were good to go,” he said.
Ging stressed that tweaks can be made if residents have issues.
“Everyone’s complaints have merit, and we try to address them,” he said.
The alarm does not seem to trigger when cars or pedestrians go down Walnut St., but some residents have set off the alarm by walking on Orchard Dr.
“When my husband walks the dogs and walks past it, it has caused confusion for the city,” Ginny Lind said. “The police quickly ran by.”
Lind has tripped the alarm herself “just walking by slowly” on the Orchard Dr. gravel. She also recalled seeing a couple on a motorbike accidentally trigger it before speeding away.
An officer drove over a few minutes later and asked whether anyone had been tampering with the panels.
Lind is not too bothered by the alarm, though she suggested lowering its volume.
“It’s only noisy if you walk by it,” she said. “I wouldn’t blast it away or anything.”
Residents farther down Walnut St. said the alarm hadn’t bothered them.
“I haven’t heard anything,” said Tim Bentz, who lives about 160 meters away from the alarm. “I see the lights flash in the morning and the evening when I leave for work. … I’m fine with it.”
“I didn’t know it made noise,” Marty Fredrickson, who lives about 210 meters away, said. “It doesn’t bother me. I think it’s kind of a cool concept. I’ve seen them in parking lots, like at Home Depot, for security.”
He added, “it’s kind of odd to see something like that in Marion.”
Fredrickson was interested in when the solar farm would be completed.
“It seems like there’s been a delay or something,” he said.
Ging confirmed that the project had been delayed by President Trump’s stay on federal spending, which put a USDA loan program helping KPP in jeopardy.
“We’re finally getting that moving again,” Ging said.
The panels are scheduled to be moved to the site of the solar farm by October.
Until then, the alarm will continue to be a frustration for Eads.
“We’ve got the RV strategically placed, and [the light] still gets through dad’s window,” she said.
Eads gestured east toward the city shops.
“Move it back,” she said. “They could put it over there. I mean, there’s any number of things they could do. … If not, [Mayor] Mike Powers is going to hear me.”