Planning Commission schedules wind-turbine work session for Nov. 17 to advise commissioners before Nov. 18 hearing

The St. Mary's County Planning Commission agreed to hold a work session on wind turbines on Monday, Nov. 17 at 3 p.m. in the Land Use and Growth Management conference room. Staff said the Board of County Commissioners had continued its wind-turbine hearing to Nov. 18 and the commission's work session would provide input in advance of that meeting.

Staff asked the commission whether it preferred Room 14 or the Land Use conference room and commissioners chose the conference room. The purpose of the work session is informational: commissioners said they expect to review recently received materials, address standards for turbine siting (including possible lot-size thresholds, setbacks, buffer considerations and how lot size or yard buffers might control turbine height), and to reach consensus on language to pass along to the Board of County Commissioners. Commissioners clarified that any resolution or formal recommendation would be informational to the BOCC and that the work session itself is a public meeting and may yield a formal motion or recommendation to the commissioners, but that the planning commission cannot bind the BOCC.

Commissioners also said they want to discuss smaller residential turbines and how standards might accommodate experimentation without broadly restricting smaller installations on small lots. Staff and commissioners noted that many technical and policy details have emerged since the item last came before the commission and agreed the Nov. 17 work session would be used for fact‑finding and drafting recommended standards to forward to the BOCC at its Nov. 18 meeting.