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Commission directs staff to allow community-scale solar in rural community zones
Summary
The Whitman County Planning Commission asked staff to add Rural Community Residential/Center districts to draft code permitting community-scale solar, aiming to let small unincorporated towns pursue limited shared systems while reserving larger commercial siting for agricultural and industrial areas.
The Whitman County Planning Commission asked staff to include Rural Community Residential and Rural Community Center districts in its draft ordinance so small unincorporated communities can host community-scale solar projects.
Vice Chairman Dave Gibney said during the workshop that he did "not see any reason to prohibit" community-scale systems in unincorporated community zones and urged the draft to be inclusive of RCR and RCC designations. Rachel Granrath of Kimley Horn explained the draft separates Community-scale (smaller systems) and Commercial-scale (larger systems) solar and recommended permitting Community-scale through the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) process for site-specific review.
Commissioners stressed that community projects should be evaluated with local input and CUP conditions that protect neighbors. Staff agreed to add draft language reflecting the Commission’s direction and to provide mapped visuals for further discussion at the next meeting.
