Planners move draft solar, battery and site standards to public hearing after months of review

The Jefferson County Planning Commission voted May 6 to advance a comprehensive package of draft changes to the county’s unified development ordinance that govern commercial solar energy systems (SES), accessory solar and battery energy storage systems (BESS) and related development standards.

Planning staff and commissioners said the revisions reflect months of technical‑committee work, public comments and attorney input and that the draft will be posted on the county website before a public hearing is scheduled.

Key proposals included in the draft advanced by the commission: a 500‑foot buffer from existing dwellings, churches, schools or cemeteries measured from the structure edge (with a minimum of 200 feet from the property line in some cases); enhanced continuous screening and perimeter fencing standards; a countywide land‑coverage cap of 4,000 acres for fenced panel areas (fence area, not entire parcel, counts toward the cap); removal of a proposed minimum project size; and requirements that buried collection and distribution lines meet specified depths (examples discussed included 48 inches outside fenced areas and 36 inches inside fenced areas).

Commissioners also discussed whether and how to regulate spacing between commercial SES projects, and they removed a one‑mile separation requirement between commercial projects from the draft after discussion. The draft treats accessory rooftop and small on‑site ground systems differently from commercial grid‑facing facilities: small “tier‑1” systems are generally allowed as accessories in most zoning districts, while larger commercial installations require special‑exception review and a development plan.

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) were a particular point of discussion. The commission agreed that large, containerized battery systems (tier‑2) should not be allowed as a special exception in agricultural zoning and instead would require a zoning change to an industrial district; commissioners discussed requiring the same 500‑foot dwelling setbacks for large battery installations and said insurance and site‑specific conditions for batteries may need higher minimum insurance or different bonding than for solar panels.

The draft tightens security fencing requirements (minimum 7 feet tall perimeter fence for exposed equipment, with barbed wire generally prohibited except at substations), requires an emergency key‑box for first responders, and adds design standards for chain‑link and other commercial perimeter fencing. Screening requirements for nonparticipating neighboring parcels were expanded: when an adjacent parcel contains an existing dwelling or is platted for residential use the draft requires a continuous opaque screen along the length of the dwelling plus 100 feet on each side of the structure; planting specs and spacing were discussed and incorporated as minimums in the draft.

Decommissioning and surety provisions were another focus. The draft keeps a 12‑month inactivity trigger (if a system does not produce power for 12 months) to begin decommissioning for the affected area; commissioners discussed and agreed on a completion window and bonding strategy. The draft requires a decommissioning plan and financial surety acceptable to the Board of Commissioners; the commission discussed requiring a bond or equivalent security equal to 25 percent of estimated decommissioning costs, reevaluated every three years, with the surety in place before construction begins. Staff said insurance minimums and decommissioning bonds will be revisited during permit reviews and that the Board of Commissioners retains discretion to require higher limits.

Staff also told commissioners the development plan and special‑exception application should be submitted concurrently to ensure reviewers have detailed site plans (fence lines, panel locations, substation and access routes) at the time of the BZA hearing. The draft added a procedure so applications that include multiple noncontiguous fenced areas will be handled as one application with findings applied per contiguous area (adjacent across a road is treated as contiguous), reducing the need for multiple separate hearings while allowing site‑by‑site findings.

After discussion, the Planning Commission voted to move the draft solar/BESS language forward to a public‑hearing step. Commissioners asked staff to make minor clarifications to bonding and insurance language before posting the draft and scheduling the hearing.