Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Economic Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council asked to preliminarily expand economic revitalization area for Francisco Solar Project
Summary
Developer representatives told the county council they need a preliminary expansion of the economic revitalization area to cover newly leased parcels for the 250-megawatt Francisco Solar Project, citing interconnection delays that have pushed key milestones and requesting a noticed public hearing in December.
County council members heard a presentation from developer representatives seeking preliminary approval to expand an economic revitalization area (ERA) tied to the Francisco Solar Project. Counsel for the developer said the ERA must be expanded to include additional parcels RWE has leased so the project can be constructed on the planned footprint.
The presenters described the project as a roughly 250-megawatt solar installation that could power more than 2,000 homes and said the minimum capital investment would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars (presenters cited approximately $300,000,000). They asked the council to take a required preliminary step under state law so staff can publish notice and schedule a public hearing; the presenters proposed the public hearing be held at the council’s December meeting.
Developers told the council the project’s schedule has slipped primarily because an earlier interconnection application was withdrawn and refiled, which "resets the clock" in the independent system operator queue and pushes the project timeline several years. The presenter added that broader interconnection congestion and queue backlogs have further delayed studies and connection milestones.
Several council members and attendees pressed the developers for more fiscal detail. One council member said, "You're not gonna get a whole lot of people that's able to come to you" at a 9:00 a.m. hearing and asked for an evening or additional meeting to improve public outreach. Another asked for clear, itemized amounts showing any requested tax abatement, the amount of actual taxes that would be paid, and how pending law changes might affect valuation and tax distributions before the public hearing.
The presenters and staff said the preliminary resolution does not finalize an abatement schedule and that specific abatement durations and percentages would be included in later, final documents and discussed at the noticed public hearing. A staff representative said federal financing milestones in early 2026 could influence contract timing for the project, which factored into the developers' requested schedule.
Next steps: the council was asked to take the preliminary step required by state statute to allow public notice; the developers recommended a public hearing in December to gather public input and present final schedule details. No final vote on an abatement or on the ERA expansion was recorded in the meeting transcript.
