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Planning Commission begins review of small‑scale solar rules; staff to draft ordinance language
Summary
Lancaster County planners asked staff to draft ordinance changes after a May 15 work session on small‑scale solar, adopting a 25‑kilowatt cap and other limits for ground‑mounted systems for commissioners to consider at a future public hearing.
The Lancaster County Planning Commission on May 15 held a work session to review proposed updates to Article 28 of the county zoning ordinance addressing utility‑scale and small‑scale solar energy facilities. Commissioners directed staff to draft ordinance language and to obtain an attorney opinion for the next meeting, with the intention of returning the revised language for consideration and possible public hearing.
Planning staff member Andrea Pruitt presented research and a comparison table of neighboring localities’ ordinances and recommended defining a small‑scale solar facility as a system with a maximum capacity of 25 kilowatts. Pruitt said the 25‑kilowatt limit is grounded in Virginia code limits for residential systems and that, by current panel efficiencies, a 25‑kilowatt residential system would generally occupy on the order of a few thousand square feet rather than the 10,000 square feet currently in the Lancaster…
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