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Caroline County adopts zoning changes for solar and energy-storage projects
Summary
The Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted Text Amendment 003-2026 to update Caroline County's zoning code for solar energy and energy storage, adding definitions, technical requirements, monitoring rules and decommissioning provisions; supervisors debated notice radius, surety forms and noise controls before the 6–0 vote.
Caroline County's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to adopt Text Amendment 003-2026, updating the zoning ordinance to regulate solar energy generation and battery energy storage systems across multiple districts. The motion to adopt, offered during the reconvened June 23 meeting, incorporated Planning Commission recommendations and board revisions and passed on a 6–0 voice vote.
Hughes, the planning staff lead presenting the draft, said the amendments add new definitions (including "battery condition," "battery monitoring" and "energy storage facility"), broaden the definition of "substation," and move transmission uses to a special-exception category in multiple districts. "We wanted items to be defined, because we have incorporated a reference, and we want those to be consistent with that reference," Hughes said during the presentation.
The board debated several operational elements tied to the ordinance: public-notice procedures and a 0.5-mile notification radius for community meetings, noise limits and measurement procedures, orientation and sound attenuation for inverters, site-plan and roadway condition assessments, and decommissioning requirements including a county-approved form. Counsel and staff explained the county will create a template decommissioning agreement for applicants to submit and the county will review and mark it up as needed.
The ordinance directs applicants to provide technical documentation, including data sheets and material safety data sheets for storage chemicals and batteries, and requires pre- and post-construction noise studies performed at consistent boundary locations. The board also directed that inverters have sound attenuation measures oriented toward a project interior to reduce off-site low-frequency noise.
The measure passed after Supervisor (speaker 2) moved to adopt the amendment and while Speaker 6 (Mister Black), attending remotely, seconded; Chair called the vote and announced the adoption. The county will now implement the ordinance text and administrative steps outlined by staff, including developing required templates and publication procedures.
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