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City narrows community-solar site contenders; lake favored by some residents, power-plant site seen as challenging
Summary
Staff presented three leading sites for community solar: city-owned land west of the power plant (city control, but steep and near a major sewer line), City Lake (open space with transmission upgrade needs), and parcels south of town that would require acquisition; several members urged protecting lake green space.
Staff identified three practical options for a locally owned community solar project: a city-owned parcel just west of the existing power plant, the City Lake site, or parcels south of town that would require purchase. Glenn told the group the west-of-plant site’s principal advantage is city ownership, but it has "a lot of challenges" — dense trees, drainage, slope and a major collector sewer line — and would be costly to clear and prepare.
Some councilors said residents have urged preserving the City Lake green space and asked that the lake be treated as a last resort. Others said rooftop and existing municipal building capacity (police and public works roofs) should be explored first; staff indicated those roofs were engineered to support some solar but would not yield large megawatt capacities. Councilors asked staff to produce cost estimates for site prep, land acquisition and transmission upgrades so the group can evaluate trade-offs between ownership, cost and community preferences.
Provenance: topicintro SEG 550, topfinish SEG 737
