Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Utility Scale Solar topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents urge withdrawal or pause of Rainbow Trout utility-scale solar special-exception application; applicant requests continuance
Summary
Residents urged withdrawal or a pause of the Rainbow Trout utility-scale solar special-exception application, saying the May 16 submission is incomplete and that a county moratorium should bar further consideration until rules are revised.
Multiple residents and community members urged the commission and county officials to pause or withdraw the Rainbow Trout utility-scale solar special-exception application, arguing the May 16 submission is incomplete and conflicting with a recently enacted moratorium covering utility-scale solar projects.
Catherine Sobieralski and other speakers said they learned recently that a 1,700-acre industrial-scale solar project had been proposed near their neighborhood on land zoned prime agricultural. They told commissioners they found the project’s scale surprising and had begun reviewing county ordinances and found an ordinance enacted in 2021 governing such projects. They asked the county to consider a moratorium or to require a more complete submittal.
Kenny McClary and other residents urged the applicant to withdraw the May 16 special-exception submittal so the project could be resubmitted after the moratorium (the commission noted a moratorium passed by the county commissioners on June 16). McClary and others argued the application was missing critical technical elements and that fixes should not be handled by piecemeal continuances.
Bridal Munden of RTS Law, representing Rainbow Trout Solar, stated they had requested a continuance that morning and clarified the continuance request was not made because the applicant believed the submission was incomplete. The APC staff later indicated additional time was needed and agreed to continue the matter; no final action on the special exception was taken at this meeting.
Speakers stressed concerns about process, the completeness of the application, and the interaction between an application on file and the new moratorium; petitioners and counsel cited procedural grounds for a continuance. The record shows strong public interest and unresolved technical and procedural questions that will need to be addressed before a special-exception hearing proceeds.
