Kossuth supervisors set March 17 public hearing for proposed solar ordinance with fee-per-megawatt and waiver language

The Kossuth County Board of Supervisors voted to accept a Planning & Zoning recommendation and schedule a public hearing on a proposed solar ordinance at 9:00 a.m. on March 17. The Planning & Zoning Commission's edits that the board accepted include replacing a flat $1,000 permit fee with a fee of $1,000 per megawatt; increasing the property-line setback from 50 feet to 100 feet; retaining a 500-foot setback from an occupied residence but adding a waiver-agreement process; and adding penalty language including a $1,000-per-day fine after a 30-day compliance grace period.

Corey, who presented the Planning & Zoning recommendation, walked supervisors through the technical edits and said the commission had held a public hearing and proposed those specific changes. Supervisors questioned the megawatt-to-acre assumptions (the commission used a 7 acres-per-megawatt rule of thumb), asked whether a waiver should allow vegetative buffers, and whether a 20-foot or 25-foot panel height merits a hard ordinance limit. Corey said the commission left the 500-foot residence distance in place but recommended adding standard waiver agreement language for negotiable situations.

Supervisor Stecker moved to accept the Planning & Zoning recommendation and set the hearing for March 17 at 9:00 a.m.; the motion was seconded by Wachter and carried by voice vote. During discussion supervisors clarified they intended the motion to include the waiver agreement language discussed during the board session.

Ending: The board set the hearing date and directed staff to finalize waiver-agreement language and incorporate any small edits into the published ordinance ahead of notice and the first reading.

Topics covered in this article were taken from the Planning & Zoning presentation and the board's motion setting the hearing.