Yakima County extends solar moratorium six months as planners craft agrivoltaics rules

The Board of Yakima County Commissioners on July 15 voted to extend by six months a moratorium on “moderate to large scale solar facilities” in unincorporated Yakima County while the Planning Commission and county staff complete a proposed agrivoltaic ordinance.

The extension gives planning staff time to receive and incorporate state comments and for the Planning Commission to hold a hearing and issue recommendations to the Board. Tommy Carroll, Yakima County planning official, told the Board that the Planning Commission has “made a recommendation on the proposed solar ordinance that has been sent off for state comment for our 60 day comment period,” and that the commission’s goal is to hold a hearing in August and forward findings to the Board in late August or September.

The moratorium extension matters because much of Yakima County is designated agricultural under the Growth Management Act, Carroll said, and the county must balance protection of farmland with growing demand for renewable-energy development near transmission lines. “We live in a county that is primarily, economically driven by agriculture,” Carroll…