Planning commission recommends new zoning rules for solar farms after public protests

The Montgomery City Planning Commission voted 6-2 to recommend approval of a text amendment to the city zoning ordinance that would add rules for large- and small-scale solar energy collection facilities.

The measure, introduced by Robert Smith, the city planning director, establishes where large solar farms may be located, requires a decommissioning and disaster cleanup plan, and sets technical limits including a 1,000-acre maximum for a single facility and a 75-foot equipment setback from the site edge (200 feet for noise-generating equipment).

The amendment matters because it creates the city’s first comprehensive local standards for utility-scale solar and clarifies how rooftop and residential installations are treated.

Robert Smith, the city planning director, summarized the ordinance and its purpose, saying the language “is to have specific standards that regulate and control solar energy collection facilities in certain land use locations within the city of Montgomery City limits and the city planning jurisdiction.” He said the proposed rules distinguish large-scale facilities — treated as a principal use and allowed only by special exception to the Board of Zoning Adjustment in Ag-1, Ag-2, M-1, M-2 and M-3 districts — from small-scale systems, which would be…