The Tooele County Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the County Council approve ordinance TCLUO2025-125, an "energy development zone" overlay that would allow property owners to apply to host large-scale energy projects without altering the underlying zoning of their land.

Rochelle, a Tooele County planning staff member, told the commission that the change responds to state code updates requiring municipalities to create such zones. "This is a request of staff on be in request of staff on be in conjunction with state changes. The state change code this year that has requested each municipality create an energy development zone, which would allow large scale energy projects to be able to be sited in that area," she said. She emphasized the overlay does not replace existing use rules: if a project is proposed it still must follow the standard application and permit process and relevant setback and height rules in the county's solar and wind codes.

The draft overlay lists a set of conditional uses that would require review by the commission if proposed, including solar farms, battery energy storage systems, biomass and waste-to-energy facilities, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen production, nuclear research or testing facilities, and wind and geothermal projects. It explicitly prohibits oil, gas and coal extraction, fossil fuel refining and coal-fired generation. Rochelle told the commission, "This does not include large scale nuclear at this time," noting that state code still needs additional clarification before larger nuclear projects would be addressed.

Commissioners and members of the public discussed how the overlay would interact with existing zoning and past projects. Staff and members agreed the overlay would not change underlying zoning and that property owners would have to follow the same rezone and permitting steps they used for earlier projects, such as the solar and wind developments near Mormon Trail. The commission also heard concerns from some speakers and commissioners about panel durability, end-of-life disposal and maintenance of large solar installations and about grid interconnection and fee structures for utilities such as Rocky Mountain Power; those concerns were raised during the public discussion and informal remarks.

Commissioner Scott moved that the commission make a favorable recommendation to the County Council to approve TCLUO2025-125; Commissioner Dow seconded the motion. The roll-call vote was unanimous in favor (Beckstrom, Scott, Alder, Dow and Hope), and the commission's recommendation will be transmitted to the County Council for final action.

The ordinance, if adopted by the County Council, would create an overlay mechanism to identify and permit areas for large-scale energy developments while retaining existing land-use protections. The county will await any further state clarifications about larger nuclear projects and any applications from property owners seeking to add the overlay to their parcels.