Commission splits on 5,000-acre county cap and whether to limit individual solar projects

Commissioners revisited a previously discussed countywide cap of 5,000 acres for solar development and whether to include an explicit cap on individual projects. Brian Davies summarized how staff and earlier commissioners arrived at 5,000 acres as a pragmatic limit after reviewing soils and agricultural designations; some members advocated keeping it as a starting point while others proposed lowering the cap or setting a smaller per-project maximum.

"That 5,000 was part of what we came up with before we had to start working on the wind issue," Chair Brian Davies said, noting staff reviewed soil types and production maps in earlier work. Bill Myers and other members recommended using Farm Service Agency/USDA production records or a five-year active-production rule to distinguish land that should remain protected from being converted to solar arrays. The commission asked staff to prepare land-use maps and options that operationalize an agricultural eligibility test and alternatives to a fixed acreage cap for further discussion.