The Board of County Commissioners on Thursday approved a consent agenda item granting an extension of time for Honors Energy LLC’s HB 1041 permit to build a 198‑megawatt photovoltaic solar generation facility with battery storage on roughly 1,390 acres about 8.3 miles south of Vineland.

County staff described the consent item as an applicant request for additional time to begin construction because the county’s Unified Development Code requires work to start within three years of permit approval. "The regs require that construction start within 3 years of permit approval," said Carmen Howard, Pueblo County planning director, during the consent discussion, adding that the applicant was unable to meet that three‑year period.

Howard told commissioners the county has found that three years often is not enough time for utility‑scale solar projects to complete the sequence of obtaining permits, negotiating power‑purchase or interconnection agreements, and securing financing. "So we may be considering actually, coming in with a code update for that, so that we don't have to continually come to you for extension requests with, with the, utility scale solar," Howard said. On a follow‑up question, she added, "I'm thinking 5 years is, I think, probably what we'll shoot for."

The staff report included project details: a 198‑megawatt photovoltaic facility with battery storage sited on approximately 1,390 acres of private land, 8.3 miles south of Vineland, and requested the additional time to begin construction. No members of the public requested removal of the item from consent and no commissioner sought to pull the item for separate discussion.

The board approved the consent agenda, including the time extension. The county will process the extension consistent with the conditions set out in the staff report. Staff signaled they may return to the board with a formal code amendment to extend the default construction‑start window for 1041 permits for utility‑scale energy projects.