WOODLAND, N.C. — A North Carolina town rejected a rezoning application Tuesday that would have allowed Strata Solar Company to build a solar farm, according to The Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald.

The Woodland Town Council had previously ruled in favor of three solar farms, which had not yet been completed.

However, a group of locals swayed the members of the town council to vote against the rezoning by expressing their distrust and fear of solar panels.

Retired science teacher Jane Mann said in the meeting that she was concerned that the solar panels would prevent photosynthesis, which depends on sunlight, from occuring. Mann claimed that plants near the current solar panels in town are brown and dead because they didn’t get enough sunlight.

Another resident, Bobby Mann, said he was worried the solar farms would, “suck up all the energy from the sun,” according to the paper.

Brent Niemann, a Strata Solar Company representative, tried to ease their fears by explaining that solar panels only use sunlight that hits them directly to generate power.

“This is a tried and true technology,” Niemann said.