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Public commenter urges extension as county staff weigh timing for solar ordinance
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Summary
A resident urged Sawyer County to extend a moratorium on solar siting rules, saying towns lacked time to review proposed zoning amendments; county staff said they are working with legal counsel and outlined options for separate public hearings if more time is needed.
A resident told the Sawyer County Administrative Committee that the county should extend its moratorium on a proposed solar ordinance because towns had not had adequate time or coordination to review the draft.
"It's asking to have it extended because I don't believe, and the towns also don't believe that the version is probably ready to be acted on," said Linda Zilmer, an Edgewater property owner, who also said several towns had asked the county for more coordination on zoning matters and that some town plan commissions had not had time to consider the draft ordinance.
The county administrator told the committee staff had been working with zoning staff and legal counsel to prepare for either extending the moratorium or moving forward if towns signaled support. He said staff were exploring procedural options to avoid missing legal posting requirements.
Zoning staff (Jay) said the draft ordinance has been approved by the zoning committee and circulated to towns for review, but some towns moved their meetings for annual town business and may not have had a chance to comment. Jay outlined two possible paths: proceed with a zoning committee recommendation and public hearing if towns are ready, or hold a separate public hearing in May either to consider adopting the ordinance or to consider an extension of the moratorium.
On the question of public-notice timing, Jay told the committee: "Everything that I've ever, you know, read with zoning, public hearings would be a class 2 notice, which is 2 consecutive weeks with the last notice being, at least 7 days prior to the actual hearing. So it's not technically 30 days at all." He said he would confirm publication requirements with legal counsel and that, worst case, a special public hearing could be scheduled if needed.
The committee did not take final action on the ordinance at the Administrative Committee meeting. Zoning committee is scheduled to consider the ordinance at its upcoming hearing; if it does not approve the draft at that time, staff said they would plan for separate May hearings for ordinance adoption and for a moratorium extension.
