Klamath County waives planning fee for proposed 1,300‑acre solar project, sets fee at $105,000
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Summary
The Board of Commissioners approved a motion to reduce the planning fee for a proposed 1,300‑acre solar farm from an estimated $1.4 million to $105,000, citing Oregon law limiting fees to reasonable service costs and planned code changes to cap fees for very large projects.
The Klamath County Board of Commissioners voted to set the planning fee for a proposed 1,300‑acre solar project at $105,000, rather than the roughly $1.4 million the department’s standard rate would have produced.
Jeremy, a planning department staff member, told the board that the developer’s application covered the county’s largest solar project to date and that, under state rules, the county cannot charge fees that exceed the cost of the service. “The board has before you an application for a waiver fee. In the explanation, it basically says that our largest solar project that we've ever processed, 1,300 acres. And if you calculate that up for our planning department fee, it was hundreds of thousands of dollars. And, we have to abide by an ORS that says, that we can't charge a fee that is, beyond what our service time is for that,” Jeremy said during the meeting.
He said the county negotiated with the developer and the applicant agreed to pay $105,000. A motion to waive the higher fee and set it at $105,000 was moved and seconded; the chair called for the vote and said the motion passed.
Commissioners also discussed formalizing a fee cap for very large developments in the county’s planning fee code. “We are working on putting a cap in the planning fee codes. We are in the process; we'll wait till this fall so we can do it all at once,” one commissioner said during the discussion, noting the county had not previously processed a solar farm of this size.
No additional specifics about the solar project’s developer, project location within Klamath County, or the exact text of the waiver agreement were stated on the record at the meeting.
The board’s action reduces the immediate fee obligation for the applicant and signals staff will return to the board later this year with proposed code language to cap planning fees for very large projects.
