On Thursday, July 11, in Norwood at the Sheriff’s Annex, the San Miguel County Planning Commission considered the proposed regulations for solar energy systems. Then, the county did move to recommend the adoption of those regulations. Kaye Simonson, the planning director, told the Forum the next step is a public hearing by the board of county commissioners.
“That date has not been set, but I expect it will be in early September,” Simonson said.
Still, the planning commission did have several recommended changes. She added the changes include the maximum size of medium-scale solar energy systems to be less than 30 acres and the definition of large-scale to be more than 30 acres.
“This primarily affects the Wright's Mesa zone districts; the effect on other zone districts is expected to be minimal,” Simonson said.
Additionally, with respect to “prime” versus “non-prime” agricultural lands, there’s a recommended change to allow up to 30 percent to be located on “prime” or “prime-if-irrigated lands,” as mapped by the NRCS, and allow up to 50 percent to be located on “prime” or “prime-if-irrigated,” if it is an “agrivoltaic project.”
The public should see the most recent draft for the definition of “agrivoltaic,” and that draft can be accessed by visiting bit.ly/SolarDraftRegs on San Miguel County’s website.
Also, there’s a recommended change to “limit the number of large-scale solar energy systems on non-public (private) lands to a maximum of three total permits within a five-year period.” Simonson said the five-year period begins with the issuance of the first permit.
“We cannot put that limit on public lands (BLM, USFS, State Land Board land), because of state and federal laws, although we still have the right to require permits,” she said.
And, there’s a recommended change in the solar purpose statement to add "grazing" after farmland and add "economics" to the other values.
After countless hours of county and community meetings for more than a year, Terri Snyder Lamers, local leader and third-generation rancher, told the Forum she felt like the Planning & Zoning subcommittee did some good work and heard the community. Still, she’d like to see someone from the public be involved in future subcommittees, if possible.
She’s happy that large-scale solar is off the table for the Wright’s Mesa Rural Ag zone.
“That’s a definite win,” she said. “We did accomplish that.”
She’s got some questions, though, on Senate Bill 24-212, since it requires the state’s Department of Natural Resources to review solar projects for impacts to wildlife and habitats. That’s something she said needs more study.
“I feel like we’re moving in the right direction,” she said. “I feel like we need to get the regulations adopted sooner rather than later, just because after the election, we don’t know what kind of legislators were going to have.”
Additionally, Lamers said while San Miguel County has climate action plans, she wants to know their exact goals and how much solar it would take to achieve those. She wants solar energy produced in San Miguel County to benefit it, not another place, city or state.
Additionally, she asks all to visit protectwrightsmesa.org to learn about the community’s working group.
Simonson said the county should have the recording of the July 11 meeting online no later than Monday. The county moratorium on solar energy projects is in effect until November. There are no current applications under consideration.
