Sedgwick County Commission approves restrictive new solar farm zoning package

The 11-month moratorium on industrial-scale solar energy production in Sedgwick County will be lifted next month. But anyone interested in developing a solar project will have to thread the needle of stringent new zoning restrictions.

On Wednesday, the County Commission adopted a comprehensive zoning proposal based largely on recommendations from the Berkley Group, a Virginia-based consulting firm hired by the county after commissioners chose not to adopt the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission’s less-restrictive initial proposal.

A substitute motion put forward by Commissioner Pete Meitzner that would have allowed the commission to decide on a case-by-case basis whether developers can build projects within cities’ urban areas of growth failed 3-2 over opposition from David Dennis and Jim Howell.

The only plan commissioners could have adopted with fewer than four votes was the initial package put forward by in February by MAPC after collecting public feedback. Commissioners rejected adopting the MAPC recommendations on the basis that they were not specific enough, and chose instead to hire the Berkley Group.

Commissioners did make some changes to the proposal presented by Planning Director Scott Wadle at last week’s meeting. Dennis introduced an amendment increasing the maximum allowable size for a solar farm from 1,280 acres to 1,500 acres. He also changed the maximum number of contiguous sections a solar developer can build on from four to six.

The consultant-informed zoning proposal stated that the County Commission should have no discretion to provide waivers exceeding the maximum allowable acreage of solar farms and the maximum allowable portion of the project area that could be covered by solar panels. Meitzner’s failed substitute motion would have struck that provision, allowing such issues to be decided through the conditional-use permitting process.

“I have some heartburn on the no waiver because not all applications are going to be the same. Not all properties are going to be the same. Not all projects are going to be the same,” Chair Ryan Baty said.

The adoption of the new restrictions automatically disqualifies the only Sedgwick County solar project that has been pitched to date, the proposed 750-acre Chisholm Trail Solar Energy Center between Maize and Colwich that Invenergy introduced in 2019. Developers cannot seek a conditional use permit for the Chisholm Trail project because the land they’ve signed leasing agreements to occupy sits within urban growth areas for Maize and Colwich. Mayors of both cities spoke at Wednesday’s meeting in favor of prohibiting solar developments within growth areas.

Dennis, whose district includes Invenergy’s proposed project, told his colleagues that he would not consider adding development within urban growth areas to the list of factors that could be decided through the conditional use process.

“If we eliminate that, then automatically there’s going to be a waiver submitted tomorrow for us to allow that in the urban growth area,” Dennis said.

“I can’t live with that. I am going to continue to protect my cities.”

The vote on Dennis’ amended zoning proposal passed 4-1 over the objection of Howell, who said he’s undecided on whether solar energy is a good fit for Sedgwick County and would have preferred extending the moratorium.

The new zoning plan reduces the allowable height of solar structures from 35 feet to 25 feet and prohibits energy conversion technology within 250 feet of any dwelling unit not owned by someone participating in the project.

The plan does not prevent private citizens from installing solar panels at their own homes or businesses. It classifies small solar projects as 10 acres or less, medium projects as between 10 and 50 acres, and large projects as more than 50 acres.

Medium- and large-scale projects will be prohibited within 2 miles of another medium- or large-scale farm’s project boundary. Groundwater testing will be required every five years while the solar farm operates. Within 12 months of any solar energy conversion system ceasing to produce power, all equipment will have to be removed, regardless of how deep it is buried. Afterward, the ground will have to be regraded and reseeded to natural condition.

This story was originally published August 14, 2024 at 2:37 PM.