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Planning commission recommends 60-day hold on Paradise Point solar special exception while county attorneys review new state law
Summary
The Garrett County Planning Commission advised the Board of Zoning Appeals to pause consideration of a 2-megawatt community solar special exception at 136 Paradise Point Road and asked county attorneys to interpret the state Renewable Energy Certainty Act that took effect July 1.
The Garrett County Planning Commission on a 60-day advisory pause recommended that the Board of Zoning Appeals delay a special-exception hearing for a proposed community-scale solar array at 136 Paradise Point Road while county attorneys review a new state law.
Planning staff presented the application by the law firm Steptoe and Johnson on behalf of Pivot Energy Development; the landowners are listed as Randall and Sarah Harvey. The project site lies near the intersection of Paradise Point and Sam Flat Road in the Deep Creek Lake area, in a Lake Residential 2 zoning district.
The recommendation followed an extended discussion about the scope of local authority after the state’s Renewable Energy Certainty Act — which staff said became effective July 1 — and whether the county can deny or lawfully condition community solar projects. Planning staff summarized the local ordinance and recent state changes: Garrett County’s Deep Creek zoning ordinance currently allows community solar up to 2 megawatts by special exception, while the state act treats projects of not more than 5 megawatts as a use that must be treated…
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