The Ada County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 7 reopened deliberations on its proposed zoning ordinance rewrite to clarify standards for siting large-scale solar facilities on agricultural land. The board directed staff to draft more specific criteria for when solar generation may be sited on prime farmland, farmland of statewide importance or farmland of local importance, and tabled the ordinance for further consideration on Oct. 28.

The chair of the board opened the discussion after a motion to remove the unfinished business from the table and to reopen deliberations on the zoning ordinance text amendment (application 20240258-ZOA). Commissioner Davidson said the board needed to use objective data—soil surveys, documented yields, crop insurance statistics and, where appropriate, professional soil scientists—to delineate what counts as prime or important farmland and to allow limited exceptions when evidence shows a parcel or portion of a parcel is not functionally productive farmland.

Commissioners agreed that the rewrite should preserve farmland where appropriate but allow a case-by-case process. The board directed staff to keep standard setbacks tied to existing zone setbacks and permit the planning and zoning process to require greater setbacks where adjacent uses warrant them. The board also discussed maintaining a simplified process for smaller distributed generation facilities (100 kilowatts or less) and treating larger centralized generation as a different use that would be sited outside defined impact areas.

A motion to direct staff to prepare ordinance language reflecting the discussion and to table the application until Oct. 28 passed by voice vote. Commissioners said the intent is not a ban on solar but to create clearer, evidence-based rules that balance agricultural protection and renewable energy siting.

Votes and formal direction recorded at the meeting instruct staff to draft exception criteria (soil analysis, documented yields, profitability data over a multi-year timeframe, and professional review) and return draft ordinance language to the board on Oct. 28 for possible final action or further amendment.

Background: the board is undertaking a comprehensive rewrite of the county zoning code, a multi-hundred-page effort that includes many topics; solar siting was one of several sections that commissioners said needed more focused clarification.

The board voted to table the matter to Oct. 28 and directed staff to return with draft language and criteria for when solar facilities may be allowed on portions of farmland.