Planning staff presented detailed proposed amendments to Grand Island's 2021 solar law and introduced a separate draft battery-energy-storage law for the board's review.

Solar-law amendments: The presenter said the changes were largely technical and based on permitting experience since 2021. Key changes include clarified definitions for building-integrated photovoltaics and building-mounted systems, explicit use of AC megawatts in capacity measurements, and added definitions for community solar (tier 3) and facility area. Staff proposed removing battery-related provisions from the solar law and handling batteries in a separate local law.

Sheep grazing and vegetation: To address recurring questions about vegetation management, the draft allows sheep grazing as part of a vegetation-management plan without a separate special-use permit but limits grazing to 14 days per grazing event. "If sheep grazing is part of the vegetation management plan, a separate special use permit would not be required for that," the presenter said. Board members debated whether the 14-day limit could be circumvented by repeated short returns and discussed whether to prohibit imported supplemental feed during grazing events. Staff agreed to research and consider language clarifying supplemental feeding and event definitions.

Screening, glare and wildlife corridors: The draft expands screening and visual-impact language for community- and utility-scale projects and adds a requirement that fences leave openings to preserve wildlife corridors. Several members said language requiring complete screening from all adjacent property lines may be excessive in some contexts and asked for redlines and visual maps for review. Staff agreed to circulate colored redlines and GIS maps showing transmission lines and proposed overlay areas.

Renewable-energy overlay district: Staff proposed a renewable-energy overlay district to steer projects toward preferable grid interconnection points and to avoid ad hoc siting; the overlay would be paired with special-use permit standards. Board members generally supported the overlay idea but asked whether overlays can be removed and noted mining overlays remain on properties historically.

Battery-energy-storage law: Because battery projects are increasingly proposed as stand-alone applications, staff presented a new draft battery law. The draft sets tiered requirements, specifies engineering and electrical-submittal requirements (including single-line diagrams), requires fire-department/test-based safety criteria (staff referenced New York City Fire Department testing standards), and proposes a 200-foot setback for community-scale battery-storage (tier 3) facilities. The draft also includes decommissioning cost estimates, annual maintenance reporting and potential noise-impact study requirements. Board members requested copies of written comments already submitted by stakeholders and asked staff to clarify operational-data reporting requirements and wetlands/setback rules for battery sites.

Next steps: Staff will circulate the redlined solar law, the new battery draft and GIS overlay maps to board members and other advisory boards for additional comment before the local laws move to the Town Board and other committees for formal review.