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Ware County to consider removing 10,000-foot spacing rule between solar farms
Summary
County planning staff proposed removing a 10,000-foot (about 2-mile) distance requirement between solar farms from the county solar ordinance, replacing it with case-by-case conditional-use review; residents asked about decommissioning and contract lengths.
Ware County planning staff told commissioners on Nov. 13 that they would seek to amend the county’s solar farm ordinance (chapter 78) to remove a 10,000-foot spacing requirement between solar farms and allow the commission to review siting on a case-by-case, conditional-use basis.
Staff said the 10,000-foot requirement — roughly two miles — prevented new solar projects from being sited near existing ones and that the proposed change would allow closer co-location while retaining conditional-use review authority so commissioners can approve or deny specific sites. The change is intended to let the county observe how closer siting functions in practice and to give the county discretion in approving sites.
Members of the public asked whether adjacent solar farms could effectively be placed ‘on top of each other’ and whether a decommissioning clause exists for when contracts end. Staff said solar leases commonly run for 20 years, and that the county’s solar ordinance includes decommissioning requirements obligating operators to restore sites at the end of operations.
Commissioners moved the item forward for further review; no immediate vote to adopt the amendment was taken at the hearing.
