Commissioners, committee discuss solar panel regulations

The Jackson County Commissioners met with a citizens’ advisory committee on Monday afternoon to discuss potential zoning regulations regarding commercial solar projects in the county.

Appointed by the county commission, the committee includes area residents David Brown, Chris Johnson, Bill Conley and Don Brees. 

Conley and Brees plan to lease land to NextEra Energy for a proposed solar farm project near Delia, and the other two members of the committee do not, it was reported.

Also present at the meeting, which lasted an hour and a half, were Jackson County Appraiser Kate Immenschuh, County Counselor Lee Hendricks and two other members of the public.

Prior to the meeting, the committee members were given a nine-page document to review that outlined a draft of possible solar industry regulations regarding setbacks, height requirements, fencing and screening.

Hendricks said the document encompassed about “a quarter or a fifth” of the regulations that would be drafted for any commercial project.

“Once the regulations are done, there may be some properties that are currently under lease that may not fit into the regulations,” Commissioner Keith Kelly said. “Just because some landowners have a lease doesn’t mean we’re going to write regulations to make them fit.”

Hendricks and the commissioners have reviewed several commercial solar regulations from area counties and narrowed their focus to regulations in Johnson, Douglas, Kingman and Butler counties.

“We’re still working on the regulations. But we thought we’d bring you in here and have some conversations,” Hendricks said. “We’ll then prepare a draft that will be submitted to the planning commission where there will be an open forum for the public to respond and then they will go back in front of the county commission. There are multiple steps.”

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