Sawyer County zoning committee sends revised solar ordinance to towns after legal review and edits

County legal counsel Rebecca presented a revised solar energy ordinance to the Sawyer County Zoning Committee on a draft that adds standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) provisions and aims to give the county clearer tools to protect public health, safety and natural resources.

The committee discussed the 14-page draft at length on topics ranging from statutory preemption and moratorium timing to technical items such as noise standards, facility signage and decommissioning plans. Rebecca described the draft as “ready to go to the towns” from a legal perspective but recommended a small set of clarifying edits, while warning that extending the county moratorium could invite greater judicial scrutiny.

Why it matters: the ordinance would create a local regulatory framework for larger solar facilities and standalone storage systems — a fast-growing area of development in Wisconsin — and it sets rules the county would use to evaluate project impacts and possible local operating agreements with developers.

In the meeting, committee members raised several technical concerns and proposed language changes. Supervisor Kaye Wilson pressed on noise limits, noting public-health guidance that links 95 decibels of exposure to short-term risks; the committee agreed to reference industry best practices for noise rather than lock in a static decibel number. Members also asked that facility identification signage include a fire-identification number and emergency contact information for first responders.

Zoning administrator Jay explained the timeline: the county’s moratorium on certain solar projects is set to expire in May. He told the committee that if the zoning committee votes to send the draft to towns now, it could be considered by town boards in April and the county could hold a public hearing in April, with county-board ratification possible in May — avoiding a moratorium extension if towns and the committee proceed on schedule. Rebecca cautioned that a second or further extension of a moratorium should be justified carefully because courts scrutinize repeated moratorium use.

After amendments were identified and agreed — including adding “best practice/industry standard” language for noise sections, adding fire-number/site-signage requirements, fixing typographical errors and clarifying the decommissioning-plan requirement — the committee voted 3–2 to send the ordinance to town boards for review. Rebecca offered to coordinate with Wisconsin Counties Association counsel to help towns interpret the draft and to minimize confusion during local review.

The next steps: the county plans to circulate the revised draft to town boards for April meetings, hold an official county zoning public hearing in April, and bring the ordinance to the county board for final action in May if no extension to the moratorium is required.