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Planning commission backs solar ordinance update, adds conditions for review, roof-mounted appearance and landscaping
Summary
The Planning and Zoning Commission on Dec. 11 recommended City Council adoption of a zoning text amendment to define and regulate solar energy systems, adding permit-review language, clarifying roof-mounted appearance requirements and directing insertion of a landscaping standard for commercial solar; the recommendation moves to Council on Jan. 5.
The Geneva Planning and Zoning Commission voted Dec. 11 to recommend the City Council adopt a zoning text amendment that adds definitions and uniform regulations for solar energy systems and battery energy storage, and to make three staff-proposed clarifying edits to the draft ordinance.
What was proposed and what the commission changed The draft amendment would add new definitions to section 11‑2‑2 and create a new section 11‑3‑15 establishing rules for roof-mounted and ground-mounted solar systems as accessory or primary uses, require building permits for all systems, treat primary commercial solar as a special use allowed in industrial districts, and require decommissioning plans for primary systems. The draft also sets setback/lot-coverage and panel-height rules (panels limited to 20 feet in the draft), calculates lot coverage as panel surface area, and cross-references stormwater, structural and agricultural-impact requirements.
During the hearing staff and the applicant asked the commission to insert three clarifications. The commission adopted the following edits by consensus and then voted to recommend the amended text to City Council: - Permit-review sequencing: add an "if" clause so that a permit for a system that is "subject to review" by a reviewing body (plan commission, historic preservation commission, or City Council) shall not be issued until that reviewing body’s approval is forwarded to the building commissioner. This preserves standard review pathways. - Appearance language: clarify that the provision requiring solar systems to "as close as possible match the color of the roof" applies only to roof-mounted systems (not ground-mounted commercial arrays). - Landscaping: add a new subsection requiring vegetative screening for commercial (primary) solar facilities visible to nonparticipating residences; staff proposed language modeled on Kane County's standard.
Applicant and technical points Forrest Houck, representing 1 Energy Development LLC, told the commission the draft is intended to be consistent with county and state permitting (stormwater, Kane County AIMA, an ECOCAT environmental resource report, and agriculture mitigation) and with anticipated state law (cited HB 25). He said panels for a planned site would likely reach 12–14 feet at their highest point, under the 20-foot limit in the draft.
Commissioners asked for clarity on abandonment and decommissioning triggers (the draft calls for decommissioning plans for primary systems and 12 consecutive months of nonuse as a decommissioning trigger), whether existing noise controls in the city code would cover inverter noise, and whether additional screening/landscape requirements should be included. Forrest Houck offered to provide a site-specific landscape plan and a sound study for any future primary-use special-use application showing inverter locations and measured decibel levels at site perimeters.
Vote and next steps The commission voted unanimously to recommend the ordinance with the three modifications stated above and asked staff to forward the recommendation to City Council. Staff indicated the recommendation will be on the council agenda for Jan. 5.
If Council adopts the text amendment, any future primary-use (commercial) solar project would still require a special-use permit and site-specific review (including landscaping, decommissioning plans, ECOCAT/AIMA documentation and structural certification) before construction.
