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Bastrop imposes 12-month moratorium on solar-farm approvals, cites application irregularities
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Summary
The council approved a 12-month moratorium on approvals for additional solar farms and on planning/zoning administrator and board-of-adjustments decisions while it revises zoning and special-use procedures; the move followed council concerns about incomplete or unclear applications for sites inside city limits.
The Bastrop City Council on Monday approved an ordinance imposing a temporary moratorium of up to 12 months on approvals for additional solar farms and on planning and zoning decisions that would ordinarily be made by the planning and zoning administrator or the board of adjustments.
City attorney Jones, who led the ordinance discussion, told the council the move would give the council time to review and revise planning and zoning ordinances and make clear who has final decision-making authority. "The state's law allows you to place a moratorium for not longer than 12 months on anything," Jones said while explaining the draft ordinance and its scope.
Council members said the action was prompted by what they described as irregularities in permit and occupational-license paperwork for at least two proposed solar projects inside the city limits, including a file labeled with the project name Golden Beam Power LLC (also appearing in paperwork as Sunbeam Solar LLC) for a Colliers Lane address. Council members said they found incomplete application records in the municipal files — in one copy the only boxes filled in were "project name" and a decision field marked "approved" — and asked staff and the city attorney to review whether those approvals had proper signatures and documentation.
Attorney Jones said the moratorium is effective back to the date of the ordinance's introduction (advertised April 17 in the council discussion) and that decisions or permits issued between that introduction date and the council’s adoption may require case-by-case legal review. "From this day going forward, if you adopt a moratorium, I will tell you I have no issue with that," Jones said; he advised that potential legal exposures for actions taken between April 17 and the adoption date would need to be handled on a case-by-case basis and recommended executive-session review for litigation strategy.
The council amended the draft moratorium language to clarify the title and scope and then approved the ordinance as amended. Council members also asked staff to provide full copies of applications, occupational-license documentation, and any earlier signed originals for the sites in question so the council and attorney can review records in advance of planned ordinance and code revisions.
Why it matters: Council members said the moratorium is intended to stop additional administrative approvals while the council and staff clarify rules for special-use permits, administrator authority and appeals so that zoning decisions affecting large sites inside the city limits are handled transparently and with documented authority.
What’s next: Staff and the city attorney will assemble the project files and recommended ordinance revisions. The council also discussed tabling a related ordinance revising procedures for special-use permits (ordinance 4-42-82, referred to in the hearing) and returning that drafted code change at a future regular meeting after public notice and staff follow-up.
Actions recorded: The council voted to approve the moratorium ordinance as amended (the amendment narrowed/clarified the published title and restated the ordinance’s effective period to begin on the April 17 introduction date and last up to 12 months). The ordinance passed by a council majority; a roll-call vote was recorded in the minutes.
