RWE sent option notices by FedEx in November 2025, while the Smallegan family maintained they never received the documents.
Ottawa County Circuit Judge Jon Hulsing has ruled in favour of RWE Solar Development, finding that the company properly exercised lease options covering about 562.8 acres owned by members of the Smallegan family, according to the report. The land forms a significant part of the proposed Silver Maple Solar project, a roughly 1,900-acre development planned across Zeeland and Jamestown townships. The family’s property accounts for almost 30% of the proposed project footprint, making the agreements central to the development’s viability, states the online report. The dispute stemmed from contracts signed in November 2020.
A legal battle over farmland in western Michigan has ended with a ruling that could keep a major solar development moving. For the Smallegan family, however, the decision means hundreds of acres tied to their agricultural land will remain under agreements with renewable energy developer RWE, bringing a long-running dispute over the future of the property into sharper focus, states an online report by Fox17. Under the agreements, RWE had five years to study the properties and exercise options to lease the land for solar development, the report adds.
The dispute over a five-year window
Much of the trial focused on whether RWE had properly exercised its options before the November 19, 2025 deadline, clears the Fox17 report. The family argued that the agreements were understood to provide a limited period for studying the land rather than establishing a longer-term commitment to solar development. The court rejected that interpretation, finding that the contracts clearly allowed RWE to exercise the options during the five-year period. The judge also dismissed claims that the agreements were obtained under duress, were unfair or were otherwise invalid.