Churchill County upholds Redwood Materials special-use permit for outdoor battery storage with added safety conditions

The Churchill County Board of Commissioners on an appeal hearing voted to uphold a Planning Commission approval allowing Redwood Materials to operate an outdoor lithium‑ion battery storage yard and a separate battery testing (R&D) area on property on Bangor Road, while adding conditions requiring a more detailed emergency response plan, baseline and annual soils and water testing, and additional agency inputs.

Randy Hines, Churchill County Public Works Planning and Building, described the project to the commission: “this is a special use permit for outside storage of lithium batteries.” Hines said the storage area in the application covers roughly 35 acres, using 900‑square‑foot grid stacks (about 30 by 30 feet) with a 10‑foot height limit; the county fire marshal required increasing spacing between stacks to 15 feet. The R&D/testing area was described as about 2.5 acres south of Bangor Road.

Why it matters: appellants and many members of the public said the combination of high temperatures, wind patterns, nearby water resources and volunteer emergency services raised unacceptable public‑safety and environmental risks if the project proceeds without stronger, enforceable safeguards. Supporters, including Redwood Materials representatives, argued the company already follows industry and regulatory practices and that the site will enable recycling of end‑of‑life batteries that would otherwise reach landfills.

The county decision and added conditions

After presentations, appellant testimony and public comment, the commission voted to uphold the Planning Commission’s approval and appended several additional conditions. The changes, read into the record by ADA Joe Sanford, require: an emergency management and response plan acceptable to the Churchill County Fire Marshal that complies with the proposed amendments to the 2024…