York County commissioners press for clearer solar rules as comprehensive-plan outreach continues

York County commissioners spent a portion of their meeting continuing a months-long discussion of proposed solar-farm regulations and the county'wide comprehensive plan, receiving recommendations from Marvin Planning and public comment from landowners and industry representatives.

The discussion matters because the proposed rules would set setbacks, permitting classes and review steps for solar projects across York County, affecting property owners, neighbors and projects already in development. Commissioners said they want to balance property rights with neighbor protections and legal defensibility while the county completes the comprehensive-plan process.

County Administrator Nathan Hines opened the items by updating the board on the draft comprehensive plan and on outreach the county will run with Marvin Planning and Consultants, including four to five town-hall meetings targeted for May and a countywide postcard and survey. "Each of you should have a copy. Either you got it last night or should have it now. It looks like this is just a very rough draft of the first roughly 60 pages of the comprehensive plan," Hines said. He said the planning consultant will spearhead the town halls and the postcard mailing and that the survey contains roughly "a hundred and some questions." Hines said the zoning board wanted the postcard sent to most households in the county.

John Shepherd, senior planner with Marvin Planning and Consultants, told the board the firm aims to help the county adopt rules that are defensible and practical. "We are not pro or against renewable energy. We are pro keeping you out of court," Shepherd said, adding that setbacks must be grounded in a rational basis and that standards can be tuned using conditional-use review and project-specific mitigation.

An OPPD representative who identified himself as Keel Geese urged the county to view solar differently than confined feeding operations and emphasized flexibility for landowners. "Solar farms are quiet, don't generate emissions or waste, and allow for flexible land management, including grazing and pollinator habitat," he said, adding that 21 landowners had signed up so far to consider projects.

Commissioners debated technical features of the draft rules. One commissioner said he opposes the draft''s largest setbacks (described in the draft as up to a half-mile for some classes) and favors consolidating the draft's Class 3 and Class 4 project categories to apply a uniform 330-foot setback instead of the larger distances. "One of those things I would like to change is... consolidate 3 and 4 into 1 class and then just keep the 330-foot setbacks for all of those," the commissioner said.

Other commissioners urged caution. One commissioner said the county engaged a consultant specifically to carry the comprehensive-plan process and recommended waiting for the survey and town-hall results before adopting major zoning changes, citing potential litigation risk if the county moves too quickly. Another commissioner noted the draft regulations already had gone through public hearings with the planning commission and said that the planning commission reviewed Marvin Planning's recommendations and returned the draft unchanged.

Board members and the consultant also discussed administrative choices: whether to treat rooftop and small, household-scale solar as straightforward permits; how to treat a large collection of panels as a single compound or multiple structures for measurement; and the role of conditional-use permits for batteries and other project components. Shepherd warned that overly prescriptive standards carry administrative burdens and said the county could address many impacts through the conditional-use review.

Public commenters urged broad engagement in the comp-plan process. Resident Willie Peterson urged including "real people" on steering committees and said the county should use professional planners where smaller counties lack in-house capacity. Hays Township resident Gene Jackson cautioned that rules will affect the whole county and that the 21 landowners mentioned do not represent all townships.

The board asked that Marvin Planning provide question sets for the town halls and that the consultant work with county staff to schedule and publicize the May meetings. Commissioners also asked county staff to review a recent Nebraska court decision on renewable-energy zoning (mentioned in the meeting) and report back on legal implications.

Next steps: Marvin Planning will provide town-hall facilitation questions and continue the survey and outreach; county staff will circulate the full draft and timeline; commissioners said they will revisit the draft after town-hall feedback and after commissioner Leroy can rejoin the discussion. Several commissioners said any change to the draft that materially alters what was previously the subject of public hearings should be returned to a public hearing before a final vote.