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Commissioners debate wording on commercial solar, favor steering development toward brownfields and landfills
Summary
Planning commissioners reviewed language on commercial solar facilities and largely supported keeping a provision that suggests steering large solar projects to brownfields and landfills rather than productive farmland, while noting state-level pressure to limit local control over siting.
Madison County Planning Commission members reviewed and debated a draft paragraph that references commercial solar facilities and whether the plan should steer those facilities to previously developed sites such as brownfields and landfills.
Some commissioners argued that the comprehensive plan should discourage conversion of productive farmland and greenfields to large commercial solar plants and instead steer such projects toward brownfields, closed landfills, or other previously disturbed sites. One commissioner noted a Virginia energy program that incentivizes siting on brownfields and said naming those locations in the plan aligns county priorities with state incentives.
Other commissioners raised concerns about over‑specifying the language; the group discussed whether mentioning “commercial solar facilities” would have unintended consequences or invite state preemption. Several participants said the county already has—or is developing—an ordinance regulating commercial solar and that the plan should be consistent with that ordinance rather than attempt to supplant it.
Why it matters: the phrasing in the comprehensive plan can signal local priorities to developers and state agencies. Commissioners asked staff to retain language that prioritizes reuse of brownfields and landfills for large solar projects while avoiding wording that would bar appropriate industrial or commercial activities in properly zoned areas.
The group left the paragraph largely intact with minor edits and asked staff to ensure consistency between the plan language and the county’s existing solar ordinance and zoning approach.
