The Pulaski County Commissioners have finalized updates to the county’s solar farm regulations, but not without some concerns from Commissioner Chuck Mellon. The commissioners Monday approved the amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance recommended by the advisory plan commission on March 11. The adjustments beef up setback and screening requirements, among other things.
But Mellon warned that some “excessive language” could discourage developers from coming to Pulaski County. “I have concerns with the specifics of the ordinance tying the hands of the plan commission and the BZA,” Mellon said. “Once the ordinance becomes law or is used as our guidance, it will be difficult to reduce any of these specifications, but normally, it’s fairly easy to increase them.”
He also worried that the ground cover requirements could be hard to evaluate and enforce. But Building Department Assistant Karla Pemberton said that the developers she’s heard from seemed to be okay with the increased setbacks, and the ground cover requirements fell somewhere in the middle when compared to other counties’. Her bigger concern was the part of the amendment that changes when in the application process developers have to turn in required documentation.
Another issue is that legislation that could shift control of wind and solar developments to the state is still being considered by the Indiana General Assembly. Pulaski County Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer said the current version of House Bill 1381 would let local governments keep some of their regulations, but he wasn’t clear on the specific conditions.
“If I’m reading it correctly, whatever ordinance restrictions we have in place as of June 30 can be applied to any proposed project, but it doesn’t define ‘proposed,’” Origer said. “They don’t tell us if in order for it to be proposed, the county has to have had a formal conversation with the developer. They don’t tell us if the developer’s having land contracted in the county qualifies as making it proposed.”
Origer suggested that the commissioners table a decision, to give them time to come up with proposed changes to send to the plan commission and see what decision is made at the state level. But in the end, the commissioners decided they were fine with what was presented. Commissioners Chuck Mellon and Mike McClure voted in favor, while Maurice Loehmer recused himself from voting.
Mellon noted that the updated regulations won’t affect the current development.
