Mills County Finalizing Regulations, Ordinance For Solar Energy Systems

Mills County is getting closer to finalizing regulations for solar energy systems.

Members of the Mills County Planning Zoning Commission and Mills County Zoning Board of Adjustment discussed a proposed solar ordinance after a presentation by Mills County Building and Zoning Department Zoning Administrator Holly Jackson at last Tuesday’s meeting of the planning and zoning commission.

Chapter 27, Section 12 of the Mills County Zoning Ordinances addresses solar energy systems for both personal and utility scale (commercial) purposes.

“There is a difference between personal solar, which would be putting solar panels on your home, versus utility solar,” Jackson said. “That (utility) would be the larger-scale solar, which would be what some people call commercial solar.”

Jackson noted a moratorium is currently in place in Mills County for utility scale solar applications until Nov. 1, which will give the planning and zoning commission time to tweak and finalize an ordinance. Jackson did note the Nov. 1 date is tentative.
The proposed solar ordinance addresses several areas, including the permitting process, setbacks, height standards, groundcover standards, security fencing, landscaping buffer, maintenance, installation and design, soil erosion, storm water management, aviation protection, agricultural impact mitigation and decommissioning.

“Basicially, the purpose of this section is to facilitate the construction, installation and operation of solar energy systems in Mills County in a manner that promotes economic development, protects property values and ensures the protection, health, safety and welfare, while also avoiding adverse impacts to important areas such as agricultural lands, conservation lands and other sensitive lands,” Jackson stated.

After hearing Jackson’s presentation, members of the planning and zoning commission and board of adjustment recommended changes and further consideration on some of the proposed regulations.

Allan Hughes, a member of the planning and zoning commission, suggested a change to setback requirements from a utility solar system to the public right of way. The proposal presented called for a 50-foot setback.

“I think our setback to build a house in Mills County is 75 feet, so to me, I think we should look at potentially 100-foot setbacks from the right of way,” Hughes said. “That would be my suggestion instead of 50 in case you have a car wreck going off the road or something like that.”

The meeting included considerable discussion regarding height requirements for solar systems. Under the proposed ordinance, the minimum height required would be 5 feet off the ground and the system could not exceed 15 feet at maximum tilt of the solar panels.

“One of the things other jurisdictions said that they regret is that there is no minimum height. That’s one thing we talked about – putting no less than 5 feet off the ground without exceeding 15 feet at maximum tilt of the solar panels,” Jackson said. “The reason for that 5 feet minimum is that basically we’re also going to require some type of ground cover as we go along. In order to have a good ground cover and allow some things to grow, we would need to have at least 5 feet off the ground.”

Another area of discussion at the meeting included clarification on the permitting process and the roles the planning and zoning commission, board of adjustment, board of supervisors and other county agencies, such as county engineer, conservation and emergency management, will play in the approval of utility solar projects. Jackson noted that the permitting process for personal solar systems is handled through the building and zoning department office.

Jackson said development of the proposed ordinance has been a thorough and extensive process.

“For the last eight months, planning and zoning has been working with my office and we have also consulted with various other jurisdictions that have also established solar commercial fields and ordinances in their zoning districts and jurisdictions,” she said. “We’re trying to learn from them.”

The planning and zoning commission was expected to take up the solar ordinance again at its regular monthly meeting Tuesday night (Oct. 4) in Glenwood.