Opponent of solar farm at Belleville cemetery sues city, developers
Update on Oct. 3: A St. Clair County Circuit Court hearing on the lawsuit involving the Mount Hope Cemetery solar farm has been postponed until Oct. 24.
The leader of a group that opposes a plan to clear-cut 19 acres of woods to make way for a solar farm at Mount Hope Cemetery in Belleville has filed a civil lawsuit to try and stop it.
Jesse Berger, 39, of Belleville, filed a 10-count complaint last week in St. Clair County Circuit Court. He named as defendants the city of Belleville, which owns the cemetery, and three solar companies.
Berger declined to comment Monday on pending litigation beyond explaining why he filed the lawsuit.
“Cemeteries have special protections under state law,” he said. “After all of my research, I believe that there are some strong legal challenges to this project, and the cemetery is facing imminent, irreparable harm.”
Officials had indicated at a public meeting in August that construction would likely begin in October.
The complaint asks Associate Judge Stacy Campbell to declare that the city would be violating state law if they moved forward with an agreement to allow Belleville Solar to lease 19 acres of cemetery land and operate a solar farm for 35 years.
Berger has long argued that cemetery owners are prohibited from using cemetery land and roads for industrial purposes, even if they’re cities with home-rule status, and that this invalidates Belleville’s lease.
The complaint also asks the judge to order a temporary injunction to keep the solar companies from beginning construction while the case makes its way through the court process.
“No plain, speedy, and adequate alternative remedy exists to prevent the challenged actions, and money damages cannot restore cemetery character, tree canopy, or quiet enjoyment,” the complaint states. “Injunctive and declaratory relief are therefore proper.”
Lawyer has history with cemetery
Belleville Mayor Jenny Gain Meyer acknowledged Monday that officials had been served papers on the lawsuit and that a city attorney would appear at a hearing Friday.
Meyer said the lawsuit wasn’t a big surprise since Berger had warned officials that he might file one.
The administration of former Mayor Patty Gregory developed the plan to buy Mount Hope for $1 in a foreclosure auction last year, lease land for a solar farm and use rent payments to help fund mowing and other maintenance.
Meyer defeated Gregory in the April 2025 election. On Monday, Meyer said she hadn’t yet read Berger’s entire complaint and declined to comment on specific allegations.
“The city did not do anything malicious or nefarious that I’m aware of,” she said.
The lawsuit’s other defendants include the solar farm’s Texas-based developer, GreanLife Solar, doing business as Shine Development Partners; Belleville Solar, a newly-formed company owned by Shine; and StraightUp Solar, the local designer and installer.
Representatives of the three solar companies couldn’t be reached for comment Monday.
Berger lives near Mount Hope and works in artificial-intelligence training. He wrote the 38-page complaint and filed it last week, acting as his own legal representative.
“I’m not a lawyer,” he said. “The only thing I am is someone well-versed in cemetery law.”
Berger later retained the services of Carbondale-based attorney Penni Livingston. She worked for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency before serving as a St. Clair County assistant state’s attorney in its environmental division from 1993 to 2001, according to her LinkedIn page.
One of the state’s attorney’s cases in the 1990s involved illegal-dumping charges against former owners of Mount Hope Cemetery.
Cemetery laws on the books
Berger’s complaint argues that the solar-farm project violates the Cemetery Oversight Act, City Sale and Lease of Land for Cemeteries Act and Cemetery Protection Act.
The complaint also states that the project constitutes common-law trespass, a public nuisance and an “unconstitutional (grift) of public property” and violates the informal public trust doctrine.
“The Leased Premises, historically maintained as part of the cemetery and used by the public, lies within a known flood-prone watershed,” it states. “Clear-cutting poses inherent risks to stormwater management, urban forestry health, and the cemetery’s park-like character.”
Beyond core legal arguments, the complaint alleges that city and solar-company officials misled the Illinois Power Company on its application to get millions of dollars in incentives for the solar farm through the highly-competitive Illinois Shines program.
According to the complaint, the application earned extra points by asserting that the plan was developed in response to a site-specific request for proposals; officials couldn’t produce records showing the RFP was actually posted; and, in any case, the RFP essentially was written by Shine and StraightUp Solar representatives.
“Emails obtained under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act ... show the developers suggested using an RFP to gain points after development had begun,” the complaint states.
The complaint also alleges that:
- Officials earned extra points on the Illinois Shines application by falsely claiming that the solar farm would be built on a site of “continuous development,” despite the fact it had been evolving into a “greenfield” for decades.
- Officials misled Illinois Shines administrators by implying that members of Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery supported the project, submitting a form letter signed by its founder, who lives out of state and didn’t represent others in the group.
- Belleville’s Zoning Board of Appeals neglected to determine whether the solar-farm project was consistent with long-term city plans, which had designated Mount Hope as “park/open space,” when considering a special-use permit.
- Officials repeatedly agreed that the solar farm couldn’t be built without a separate entrance, but they ultimately settled on a plan that would require big trucks and heavy equipment to use roads that go through the burial grounds for several months.
- Belleville City Council approved a special-use permit for a solar farm and entered into the lease agreement before performing environmental studies in the area, which provides wildlife habitat and is part of a watershed that drains into Schoenberger Creek.
The complaint also details decreasing financial terms for the city. In February 2024, officials discussed an upfront payment of $1.2 million, annual rent of $90,000 and a one-time $80,000 donation. By March 2024, that had dropped to a $500,000 upfront payment and annual rent of about $69,000.
The final lease, signed in July 2025, provided for an upfront payment of $250,000 and annual rent between $50,000 and $55,000.
“The financials of this deal have really fallen apart from what they originally were telling us,” city Director of Finance Jamie Maitret stated in an email obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Abandoned by previous owners
Mount Hope is a historic cemetery with more than 27,000 graves on about 55 acres of a 132-acre property. Previous owners abandoned it about 20 years ago, leading to receivership and neglect. City workers started mowing and picking up trash in the 2010s.
A handful of local residents, including neighbors and people with loved ones buried at Mount Hope, launched a campaign against the solar farm in May. Berger posted a petition called ”Save Mount Hope Cemetery” on the Change.org website. It had collected 874 signatures as of Monday.
The group set up a GoFundMe campaign in late August to raise money for legal fees. It had collected $1,755 as of Monday.
“This fight is about more than one project,” the campaign description states. “It’s about protecting the dignity of Mount Hope Cemetery, standing up for transparency in local government, and ensuring our community has a say in decisions that impact our neighborhoods and history.”
Opponents spoke against the solar farm at Zoning Board, City Council and community meetings, while Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery founder E. Gayle Schneider supported it as a way to fund badly-needed renovations and maintenance.
City and solar company officials have promised that the solar farm will be surrounded by a buffer of trees and not visible to visitors, but opponents dispute that claim.
Attorney Alex Enyart posted another Change.org petition called “Support Solar in Belleville!” this summer before changing his stance to remain neutral. That petition has 85 signatures.
This story was originally published September 30, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
