Planning commission recommends changes to county battery energy storage resolution; sends list of safety and monitoring requests back to county commissioners

The Saline County Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday discussed a county commission request to reconsider the county’s resolution establishing requirements for battery energy storage systems and voted to return the resolution with recommended changes covering liability insurance, acreage limits, environmental testing, public notification and reclamation wording.

Staff said the county commission asked the planning commission to reexamine several items in the resolution adopted by the planning commission in late 2024, including liability insurance amounts, setbacks from residences, acreage limits for a single BES site, environmental testing, emergency notification language and decommissioning language.

On liability, staff explained the county can increase the insurance requirement beyond the current $1,000,000 per incident cited in the resolution and that the planning commission can either set a higher fixed minimum or set a baseline and allow case‑by‑case increases within the conditional‑use process. “You can raise the base amount and then include language in there stating that each individual case can be considered for an increase,” a staff member said.

Commissioner Kathleen proposed raising the baseline to “one and a half or two” million dollars and including case‑by‑case authority; commissioners agreed to recommend a $1.5 million minimum with language allowing higher coverage when the CUP review shows it is necessary.

The county commission had suggested a half‑mile setback from residences. Staff presented a countywide map showing residential structures within a half‑mile of many substations and told the commission that a strict half‑mile rule would make most county substations ineligible. Commissioners discussed using NFPA 855 setback standards as the baseline with the ability to increase buffer distances on a per‑CUP basis; the commission opted to retain the NFPA 855 reference and to ask the county commission for guidance if they still prefer a numeric half‑mile standard.

On acreage, the county commission asked that the single‑site limit be reduced from 20 acres to 10. Commissioners settled on a compromise: set a 10‑acre baseline for a single BES site and allow requests for up to an additional 10 acres through an individual CUP review, but not to exceed 20 acres without further approvals.

For public notification and emergency response, staff and commissioners agreed to require applicants to coordinate with the county’s emergency management and local emergency services during CUP preparation and to include emergency notification measures (the county’s Code Red system was cited as an available tool). Commissioners also asked that applicants submit an emergency‑response plan as part of the CUP application and coordinate on public notification methods.

Commissioners accepted staff’s recommendation to add annual testing of water, soil and air during operation and immediate testing after any extraordinary event, in addition to the decommissioning testing already in the draft resolution. Several commissioners said regular testing would help address neighbors’ safety and contamination concerns.

Finally, staff proposed clarifying reclamation language to state that land in the vicinity not occupied by the facility should remain viable for agriculture during the facility’s life, and that land occupied by the facility should be returned to agricultural viability after decommissioning; commissioners approved that wording.

After discussion, the commission voted to return the resolution to the county commission with the recommended changes and the request that the county commission provide specific guidance where the planning commission retained performance‑based or standards‑referencing language (for example, the NFPA references). The motion to return the resolution passed unanimously.