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Council discusses code tweaks to allow city pond and field solar uses; staff to draft targeted amendments
Summary
Planning staff reviewed solar permitting activity since 2023 code changes and proposed targeted code modifications to allow existing city programs (pond aeration and traffic/siren equipment) and similar small-scale ground-mounted systems, asking council whether to proceed via Planning & Zoning or direct council action.
Planning staff updated Dublin City Council on solar permitting and recommended narrow code changes to allow specific ground-mounted solar uses already employed by city divisions.
Planner Tammy Noble told council the city adopted solar-related code amendments in 2023 and has since monitored permit activity. She said initial adoption produced a 64% disapproval rate on early applications, but a second amendment reduced disapprovals to about 4% by correcting submittal and clarity issues. In 2025 year-to-date Noble reported six residential and three commercial permit reviews that have progressed successfully.
Noble identified two existing municipal programs that do not fit the current ground-mounted solar rules: a pond aeration program managed by Engineering in partnership with a consultant called PondHawk (27 installations serving pond aeration/irrigation at golf course and other basins) and transportation/emergency systems that use small solar panels for speed-management signs and emergency sirens (panels roughly 42 by 48 inches). She said the panels are low-profile and aid operations where hardwiring is expensive.
To accommodate those uses, planning proposed modest code modifications that would preserve ground-mounted equipment as accessory structures but allow adjustments to maximum size, permitted locations (not always limited to side or rear yards), and height allowances for specific applications. Staff recommended drafting language for council direction and suggested either routing the amendment through the Planning and Zoning Commission (the standard path) or handling it directly at council as a policy matter.
Councilmembers generally supported allowing pond-aeration and public-health/safety-related solar uses, but asked staff to tighten terminology—particularly the term “maintenance”—to avoid unintended expansion into broad residential uses. Several council members said the rules should permit similar private uses such as HOA stormwater maintenance systems if they meet public-health or safety criteria; others urged careful drafting to restrict size and appearance standards.
Noble said staff will return with draft code language and requested policy direction on whether council prefers to proceed through Planning & Zoning or direct council review.
