Committee updates solar rules to reflect state preemption and separate rooftop and ground-mounted standards

Planning staff described ZTA 2607 as a compliance-focused rewrite to reflect the changes made by the General Assembly. "This was a very large, highly technical bill," Miss Nadeau said, referencing House Bill 1036, and explained that the county is now preempted from enforcing local land-use regulations for projects under 1 megawatt. The ZTA separates definitions for rooftop and ground-mounted systems and relocates existing limits and standards into the new subsections.

Miss Nadeau said the rewrite keeps many existing standards in place as a fallback in case the county later regains local authority (if five percent thresholds in priority preservation areas are met). For rooftop systems the ZTA will primarily require written authorization from a local utility if connected to the grid and compliance with state energy-generation limits; larger ground-mounted systems will continue to require site plans, minimum site size (3 acres), setbacks, landscaping and removal provisions. The planning board supported the ZTA and the climate assessment flagged moderate positive effects for county climate goals, while OLO again recommended incentives to offset equity concerns.