Solar regs near final form - The Daily Planet

Solar regs near final form | News | telluridenews.com

The public in Norwood turned out at Wednesday’s San Miguel County Planning Commission to ask the county to reconsider and change some of its proposed solar energy land use rules and after a lengthy deliberative discussion, the members voted to approve an amended draft.

The draft will make its way to the San Miguel Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) later this summer for consideration. San Miguel County Planning Director Kaye Simonson said the BOCC could have the draft on its meeting agenda in September.

A solar energy moratorium on new developments was imposed in 2023 and is set to continue until November.

The county brought the moratorium forward in May of 2023 after hundreds of area residents raised concerns about an idea proposed to install a solar utility project at Wright’s Mesa on Lone Cone Road — OneEnergy promised the potential to redevelop 600 acres of the open land into a 100-megawatt solar utility project. The renewable energy company also said the project would provide new local jobs and revenue, plus give the community a space for sheep to graze.

There are no pending development applications for solar energy at this time, Simonson said.

Wednesday’s meeting didn’t draw a packed crowd, but the seats were filled and those who did show up online or in person came prepared with statements.

Norwood resident Peggy Smelt Day was one of the proponents on Wednesday behind a change in the draft solar regs to reconsider the definition of a large-scale solar project, which was drafted to be a size of 40 acres or more.

“My husband and I, and many people I talk to, I realize maybe they don’t show up at these meetings, they don’t write letters, but there is a very strong opinion in Norwood that 40 acres is too large,” Day said.

She pointed to the setback, which had been set at 50 feet in the draft regulations.

“Fifty feet of setback is too small,” Day said. “This is an industrial application on not only ag land, but beautiful view land, hunting land, and, most importantly, wildlife land.”

Day urged Simonson to listen to all the local comments.

“This is America, and everything that is amazing about America is happening right here in our small, little town,” Day said. “The people of Wright’s Mesa and San Miguel County have a chance to design and apply their opinion to a regulation. It’s amazing. This is what it’s all about and so I strongly encourage her to listen to the people of Wright’s Mesa and reduce the amount of space to 20 acres and setbacks.”

Lifetime Norwood resident Craig Greager said at Wednesday’s meeting that there have been a lot of good comments shared. He was glad to see adjustments being made to where large-scale solar utility projects could be zoned and permitted — large-scale is not being allowed in the Wright’s Mesa area.

“That was extremely important,” Greager said.

Still, he feels the county has “a lot of work ahead” on its land use code.

“It states the purpose is to facilitate the development of solar systems. I don’t see you doing that for any other industry,” Greager said. “It seems it’s bordering on discrimination. I’ve never seen any language saying you will help some other businesses develop. You really need to rethink what you’re doing there.”

Simonson said at the meeting that the land use code will be created for other industries next.

“In the future, we’ll be adding sections for mining, logging, oil and gas, and then after that, working on geothermal energy,” Simonson said. “And just as an aside, the state is working on preparing rules for geothermal energy related to the drilling, but not to any of the above-ground stuff, so we’re kind of keeping an eye on what the state’s doing.”

The county will likely begin to hold its work sessions on amending the land use code for mining, logging, oil and gas, sometime in the late summer or early fall, she said.

Simonson also said the county can amend the codes again, at another point in the future, as needed.

Local Mike Malley said he felt startled by Simonson’s statement.

“I love the Norwood area and I’m part of the Protect Wright’s Mesa Coalition,” Malley said, a Norwood resident and transplant from Texas, when it was his turn to speak.

“Quote, ‘Our codes can be amended in the future,’ quote,” Malley said referring to Simonson’s previous statement.

“One of the most startling” Simonson quotes was, “‘We hope…’ — but you can’t base any regulations on hoping something’s going to happen,” he continued.

Malley said the coalition to protect Wright’s Mesa “feels that the version before you today continues in the right direction, but is simply a work in progress.”

“Why eliminate barriers just to make things more open for an industrial process to happen? And I think when they use words like, ‘Well, you’re being overly descriptive — I don’t think that we can be overly descriptive when it comes to what we’re discussing right now. You guys have done an incredible job with all the work that you put in. I think you’re going down the right path, but I don’t think we’re there yet.”

With the public comments, letters and emails gathered on the topic, the planning commission members spoke in support of some of the suggested changes to the draft of the solar regulations.

The draft amendments the commission members approved include changing the definition of medium-scale solar utility projects to less than 30 acres, while a large-scale project would be 30 acres or more.

Additionally, a maximum of three large-scale permits on private land could be permitted within a five-year timeframe (starting with the issuance of the first permit).