Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Solar Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County staff says Board initiated measures to restrict large-scale solar siting in RA/A1 zones; comprehensive plan amendment also initiated
Summary
Staff reported April 24 that the Board of Supervisors has initiated two actions to tighten county policy on large-scale solar: a zoning-ordinance amendment to limit large-scale solar to M-3 heavy industrial zoning, and a focused comprehensive-plan amendment to quantify an acreage cap.
Planning staff reported April 24 that the Prince George Board of Supervisors recently initiated two related actions regarding large-scale solar energy facilities.
First, staff said the Board asked the county to prepare a zoning-ordinance amendment that would remove large-scale solar energy facilities as a special-exception use in RA and A1 zoning districts and instead limit such facilities to M-3 (heavy industrial) zoning as a special exception. Staff said that to date most permitted large-scale solar facilities were approved through special exceptions in RA and A1 districts; the proposed change would restrict that pathway.
Second, staff said the Board initiated a focused comprehensive-plan amendment to revise the county’s siting policy for solar energy facilities, including quantifying an acreage cap so that existing permitted acreage would represent the county’s desired amount going forward. Planning staff told commissioners those items will be brought to the Planning Commission for review (expected in June) and then forwarded to the Board for public hearings and final decisions.
Staff said these actions are separate from the broader comprehensive-plan rewrite underway elsewhere in county planning work.
No formal Planning Commission vote was recorded on the solar items at this meeting; staff’s report was informational and intended to flag upcoming applications and drafts for the commission’s future review.
