Farm Horizons • Dec . 5 , 2016 • Page 18
private citizens . “ It was contentious at first ,” Riley said . That was to be expected considering the differing opinions of those in the work group .
“ There were people who don ’ t think this is a viable way of meeting electrical demands and who oppose putting them on prime farmland ,” Riley said . “ Developers spoke to state law and regulations and some of the decisions that have been made to allow them to do this . If it ’ s going to be done , they have to be somewhere .”
Work group members worked through their differences and toward resolution .
“ Once we set aside the philosophies and the things we didn ’ t have control of , we talked about the details ,” Riley said . “ We made the assumption of , ‘ If these are going to be done , what ’ s the best way to do it ?’” Work group members learned from each other . “ Township and local parties realized what this industry is about and the impacts it will have ,” Riley said . “( Solar developers ) realized how critical it is to meet with townships and local people first , and take into account setbacks and impacts on the land .”
Work group recommendations were sent to the planning commission , which made recommendations to the Wright County Board . The board then approved the amendment Nov . 1 following a public hearing .
“ I think everybody tried really hard to come to a consensus ,” Chair Pat Sawatzke said . “ If I remember correctly , every person felt this was a better product than before . . . I ’ m not saying it ’ s the perfect ordinance , but in light of the challenges that exist in the industry and all the unknowns , it ’ s a
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During the public hearing , the board clarified that townships could have more restrictive ordinances . Buffalo and Franklin townships currently have moratoriums on solar projects in place while they work out the details of potential ordinances .
The changes
Wright County ’ s solar ordinance underwent several changes .
One change requires a bond to be in place before development .
“ There will be a set of plans and estimates on what kind of work needs to be done to decommission these . That will be used to come to an agreement to bond for that work to be done ,” Riley said .
Taking the bonding concept a step further , the county is requiring development agreements .
“ We came up with a concept of implementing development agreements to wrap up all the bonds and financial safeguards ,” Riley said . “ It ’ s a contract the county and developer sing that spells out everything . For example , if they don ’ t mow and take care of the vegetation , after a certain amount of time , we have the authority to call on the bond and take care of it ourselves . That was always assumed before , but after dealing with a couple , we realized all the issues that could come up .”
The county would like to see solar projects developed in such a way that the agricultural land could be preserved .
“ The land use has been presented to us to come onto farm land and not disturb it so , if the panels are removed some day , it can go back to farming ,” Riley said . “ The group required limited land alterations . Try to leave it as is and don ’ t build too many access roads or alter the topography of the soils . Don ’ t put down too much impervious surface .” Setbacks have been increased . “ At a minimum , it would be 100 feet ,” Riley said . “ The planning commission could require more as they found it was needed . It was just a property line setback before . It was a minimum of 50 feet . . . Now it must be at least 100 feet from a residence .” Screening or plantings may also be required . “ It ’ s site-specific and all about location ,” Riley said . “ If it ’ s in the middle of nowhere , there ’ s less requirements than if it ’ s by a neighborhood . If there is housing nearby , every effort will be made to have the site developed as far away from housing as possible , and have screening and plantings between the two .” That would also apply if businesses were nearby . “ As far as protecting businesses , it would be upt to the planning commission at the conditional use permit stage ( to decide ) if things are too close or need screening , barriers , that type of thing ,” Riley said during the Nov . 1 meeting .
Smaller projects
In addition to large , five-megawatt solar projects , smaller projects may be allowed on residential or agricultural property .
“ You can walk in and get a building permit to do small pole- or house-mounted solar panels ,” Riley said . “ We have it capped for permitted use . If you go over that , it goes to a conditional use permit . We do it based on size : 10 kilowatts for a house and for an agricultural parcel it ’ s 100 kilowatts .”
Residents can also apply for a conditional use permit for a solar project up to 40 kilowatts in size . For more information , contact Wright County Planning and Zoning at ( 763 ) 682-7338 . •