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Commissioners advance solar setback ordinance after public concerns about landowner impacts
Summary
At final reading commissioners passed Ordinance 2025‑05 updating setbacks for solar installations. Landowners raised concerns that a 500‑foot setback measured from home perimeters could make portions of farmland undevelopable; commissioners noted the BZA/variance process may address specific property situations.
The board held third reading and advanced Ordinance 2025‑05, which updates setback requirements for solar installations in Randolph County. During public comment Troy Prescott, a landowner involved with solar projects, criticized the ordinance process and said landowners were underrepresented on the advisory committee. Prescott and other farmers warned that a 500‑foot setback measured from the perimeter of a home (rather than property line) could remove substantial acreage from development, create negotiation difficulties with future homeowners, and create uncertainty for farm heirs and developers.
Commissioners responded that the ordinance includes mechanisms for negotiation and that the Board of Zoning Appeals could hear variance requests where a particular lot configuration raises conflict. Several commissioners said they understood the concerns but supported the ordinance as worded; the transcript records the third reading and a voice vote carried the measure forward. One commenter later raised a separate technical concern about survey coordinates in a different ordinance and was advised of statutory judicial remedies for challenging an ordinance.
The county clerk will publish the ordinance and provide the statutory 30‑day period during which affected parties may seek judicial review if they believe the ordinance was not properly processed.
