Sedgwick County finally has an answer for its commercial and utility-based solar projects — one that brings a year’s worth of deliberation to a temporary stop. Sedgwick County Commissioners approved 4-1 Wednesday updated regulations that prohibit solar projects within urban areas of influence in the county — defined as urban areas of land with development growth — with some additions: Increase the maximum project size from the proposed 1,280 acres to 1,500 acres. Increase maximum contiguous land sections for a commercial project location from four to six areas. Increase the distance between an unattached area of a project to the concentrated project area to one mile. The new rules are likely an end to Chisholm Trail Solar Energy Center, a 750-acre solar project proposed by Chicago developer Invenergy between Colwich and Maize. “The alternative solar regulations approved by the Sedgwick County Commissioners today included several provisions that impact the current plans for Chisholm Trail Solar Energy Center,” an Invenergy spokesperson told the WBJ in an email. “We are evaluating these newly introduced regulations and will make decisions on any necessary project updates in the coming weeks.” Commissioner David Dennis, whose district includes Colwich, said he proposed the recommendations that were provided by the joint city-county Metropolitan Area Planning Department because the existing policy “left too many significant variables on a case-by-case basis” and added a “political aspect to each decision” on commercial solar projects. “That’s not the right way to do things,” he said in the meeting. He said the new regulations address the adverse impacts of commercial solar projects on public safety, economic and commercial development, and aesthetics of specific areas, communities and the entire county. A debated portion of the regulation centered around a no-waiver position, which eliminates the possibility of commercial solar developers requesting regulation items to be waived for their specific projects. Commission chair Ryan Baty requested the no-waiver be lifted to allow flexibility to entertain some conditional use permits for commercial solar projects. “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,” he said. Dennis, meanwhile, disagreed with the change in waiver regulations. “I’ll guarantee you that there will be a conditional use put in immediately to waive the urban growth area between Maize and Colwich and now it goes political,” he said. Commissioner Jim Howell, the sole vote against the motion, said regulations are “going the wrong way” by enlarging project sizes to a maximum of 1,500 acres. Howell said he would prefer if the sizes of these projects were reduced by half, to around 640 acres. “I’m not anti-solar (but) I’m not so sure this is the right time to do this,” he said. “I would rather see us observe what happens in other places and let the technology mature a little bit. We can come back in a couple of years and maybe reconsider this.” Maize mayor Pat Stivers and Colwich mayor Terri Nicholson spoke in support of the regulations tied to urban areas of influence. “As a community, we are absolutely not opposed to solar, and we think small solar projects even near our city are a viable option where cities and solar can coexist,” Stivers said. “We are concerned about what a 500-acre project or bigger project would do to the city of Maize. We fully support the recommendation.” Commissioners agreed that there is room for adjustments in establishing urban areas of influence. “I fully admit that if you look at our entire county, there are areas that are urban areas of influence that probably shouldn’t be, that need adjustments,” Dennis said.
Source: Wichita Business Journal
