After months of deliberation, public input and staff development, a revised ordinance for utility-scale solar installations in Linn County will soon be official.
The board of supervisors unanimously approved the third and final reading of the revamped ordinance Tuesday. The board had approved the first and second readings of the ordinance at meetings earlier this month.
The amended ordinance – effective upon publication in The Gazette, which is expected to happen within the next week – includes stricter guidelines for proposed developers of industrial-scale solar projects in Linn County.
“I am pleased with the amount of time and work our Planning & Development staff and citizen-led Renewable Energy Committees put into developing a much-improved ordinance regarding utility-scale solar projects in Linn County,” board of supervisors chair Louie Zumbach said in a written statement. “My hope is that this ordinance will help make utility-scale solar more palatable for those living near it while preserving private property rights.”
The process of revising the 50-page ordinance was launched in the wake of officials’ extensive review – and eventual approval – of three utility-scale solar projects in the past year, including the Coggon Solar project and the Duane Arnold Solar I and II projects, all located in Linn County.
In the wake of those approvals, the board of supervisors implemented a moratorium in October 2022 on consideration of new utility-scale solar projects in Linn County. That moratorium, which is currently set to expire Sept. 30, will be lifted once the new ordinance in place.
After the moratorium was imposed, four county-appointed committees examined issues raised in the contentious approval processes and drafted reports suggesting changes in county solar policies.
The committees met several times in the first half of 2023 and forwarded reports to Linn County Planning & Development staff, which then used statements from the committees, board of supervisors, and the public to draft the proposed ordinance changes.
Those changes address a host of issues ranging from setbacks from neighboring properties to panel heights, viewshed screenings, impacts on agriculture, vegetative plantings and soil protection, development standards, decommissioning procedures, and many more.
In addition to the updated ordinance, staff created a utility-scale solar scorecard to assist in the evaluation of utility-scale solar project applications. The Board of Supervisors approved the scorecard on a 2-1 vote, after modifying the scorecard point totals to include additional points for agreeing to source labor locally and fewer points for locating a project on medium or high CSR-valued land.
The updated solar ordinance and solar scorecard are posted to Linn County’s website.
