Pulaski County planning commission reviews draft battery storage rules, sets special session to seek moratorium extension

The Pulaski County Advisory Planning Commission on Monday reviewed a draft ordinance that would regulate commercial battery energy storage facilities, including application requirements, setbacks, safety plans, environmental monitoring and decommissioning provisions, and agreed to schedule a special session for April 20 to ask the county commissioners for a moratorium extension.

The presenter (staff member) told the commission the draft is largely adapted from the county's commercial solar ordinance but includes additional battery-specific language and that county and APC attorneys have reviewed the document. "No single battery storage facility footprint shall exceed a total land coverage of 20 acres inclusive of all associated equipment, access roads, and required setbacks as calculated by the USDA, and it shall not cover less than 5 acres," the presenter read from the draft and said the 5-to-20-acre range remains open for discussion.

Why it matters: commissioners and residents argued the draft must balance farmland preservation, public-safety concerns and the county's authority to enforce compliance. Key choices—how large facilities may be, how far fences and components must set back from neighbors and roads, and how to guarantee…