Supervisors initiate solar energy ordinance amendments, set public hearing

By Rick Morain
Jefferson Herald

The Greene County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday tentatively agreed on changes to the county’s proposed amendment to its zoning ordinance for the addition of utility-scale solar energy systems provisions.

County attorney Thomas Laehn met last week with supervisors Dawn Rudolph and John Muir to review input from last week’s board session. The board’s goal is to provide rules whereby solar energy is encouraged, while at the same time the rights and concerns of property owners are taken into consideration.

Board members expressed their desire to promote reasonable access to solar energy while preserving the availability of agricultural land, protecting the health and welfare of county residents, and mitigating the risk of fire and glare to neighboring property owners.
The board provisionally decided to limit the combined surface area of all the solar panels installed in a single solar array to 1,000 acres. They agreed on what should be included in a report of a community information open house, and established minimum setbacks with the site plan.
The update setback distances are now 150 feet from property lines generally, 600 feet from dwelling units, 75 feet from right of-way lines, 150 feet from wildlife management and state recreation areas, and 150 feet from cemeteries. Emergency plan language has been added to define information to be included and procedures to be followed.

The section on locations of permitted uses was revised to include commercial and industrial districts in addition to agricultural and mineral extraction districts. The section on additional height and area regulations was amended to exempt substations in wind farms or utility-scale solar energy systems from each district’s height regulations.

Decommissioning and terms for doing so were discussed at length, with contributions from Marta Lasch and an associate from National Grid Renewables, as well as Justin Foss of Alliant Energy.
Larry Johnson, owner of an acreage within the proposed Grand Junction solar farm area, said he was dissatisfied with the proposed project. He said that even at 600 feet from his house he will see nothing but solar panels in every direction. He likened it to being stuck in the middle of an industrial park.

Bill Radebaugh discussed the difference between involvement in the wind turbine process and the solar energy farm process and being able to sign up for the wind turbines.
In connection with the solar energy ordinance, the board set a public hearing for a proposed amendment to the ordinance establishing a temporary moratorium on utility-scale solar energy projects at next Monday’s board meeting at 9:15 a.m. Sept. 12. The proposed amendment would extend the moratorium until either noon on Oct. 24 or such time as the county’s zoning ordinance is amended to provide regular procedures for issuance of such permits, whichever occurs first.

OTHER NOTABLE ITEMS

• In other action, the board approved a county substance abuse prevention services agreement with New Opportunities Inc. New Opportunities would utilize grant funds of $1,902 from the Iowa Department of Public Health with a three-to-one county match for a total budget of $7,608. The county match funds would total $5,706.

• Supervisor Rudolph reported meeting with sheriff Jack Williams to discuss reporting proposed new jail information to the public.

• County engineer Wade Weiss reported requests for providing some assistance for two community projects: the planned dog park near the new animal shelter and the Greene County High School student construction program storage shed.