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Supervisors split on by‑right SMR zoning vs special‑use permitting
Summary
Board members debated whether allowing SMRs as a by‑right use (in a new district that still requires rezoning) or treating them as a special use in industrial heavy would better protect community interests; many favored retaining conditioning authority through special‑use review or adding stricter district limits.
A core tension at the meeting was whether small modular reactors should be enabled as a by‑right use in a newly created industrial‑intensive district or instead be treated as a special use in existing industrial zones.
Staff and some supervisors said creating a narrowly defined industrial‑intensive district keeps the by‑right option from spreading into existing industrial heavy areas because any project would still require rezoning to the new district. "If you do it by right in industrial heavy, it could pop in any industrial heavy that you've got," a staff member told the board.
Other supervisors argued a special‑use permit carries advantages because it allows the board to impose conditions and adjust requirements case‑by‑case. "A special use permit process is always a check safe and doesn't leave a gap that could become problematic with a code update," one supervisor said. Board members repeatedly returned to the trade‑off that rezoning into a narrowly tailored district preserves predictability for applicants while special‑use review preserves the board's leverage to require tailored mitigation.
No policy decision was adopted; the board asked staff to return with options and supported pausing the schedule to secure technical expertise so the board can evaluate the zoning mechanism with more information.
Next steps: staff to provide comparative language and scenarios showing how a rezoning to a new district would differ from a special‑use pathway and to estimate where the new district could reasonably be mapped before any rezoning request is made.
