Sacramento County holds scoping meeting for Coyote Creek agrivoltaic ranch solar project

SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Sacramento County planning staff held a public scoping meeting to gather input for the environmental impact report (EIR) for the Coyote Creek Agrivoltaic Ranch Project, a proposed utility-scale solar development located on about 2,555 acres at the area locally known as Barton Ranch, south of U.S. 50 and adjacent southeast to the Prairie City State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA). County staff said written comments on the Notice of Preparation are due Feb. 18.

The project team described the proposal as “a 200 megawatt solar facility with on-site substation and storage, meteorological towers, backup generators, access and internal roads, as well as fencing,” said Matthew Gerken, the project director. The plan would include an on-site substation, battery energy storage and an approximately 1.3-mile, off-site transmission line on roughly 150-foot poles to connect to existing Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) facilities west of the site; the line would cross portions of the Prairie City SVRA and may require easements or facility relocations on State Parks land.

Why it matters: County staff and agency representatives said the EIR will need to study a range of resource topics — including biological resources, consistency with the South Sacramento Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), hydrology and floodplain issues, grading and erosion control, cultural and tribal resources, traffic and noise, visual/aesthetics,…