ANDERSON – A moratorium banning the event of huge photo voltaic vitality amenities has been prolonged for one more yr.
Madison County Commissioners on Tuesday voted to increase the moratorium till Dec. 31, 2023, or till a brand new county photo voltaic vitality ordinance is adopted.
The present moratorium is ready to run out on Saturday.
Larry Unusual, director of the Madison County Planning Division, mentioned he hopes to have a draft of a brand new photo voltaic ordinance addressing giant developments of fifty acres or extra accomplished by subsequent 4 to 6 weeks.
Unusual mentioned the Plan Fee is required to carry a public listening to on the proposed new photo voltaic ordinance.
“There’s a number of curiosity,” he mentioned. “The county might wish to take into account outreach conferences for the general public within the northern and southern components of the county.”
Unusual mentioned the county may additionally do a web-based survey.
John Richwine, president of the Madison County Board of County Commissioners, mentioned he favors the outreach conferences and the web survey.
Unusual mentioned he’ll submit a proposal for outreach conferences for public enter on Jan. 10 Plan Fee assembly.
Brad Newman, the previous director of the Planning Division, is engaged on a draft of a photo voltaic ordinance beginning in 2020.
That draft ordinance incorporates a property worth assure, limits industrial photo voltaic farms to twenty% of the county’s prime agricultural land and limits what zone classification a venture is allowed.
Giant scale photo voltaic vitality tasks might be permitted in areas zoned for industrial use.
Photo voltaic vitality tasks are prohibited in any space of the county zoned for residential use and are permitted with particular makes use of in areas zoned for agriculture, conservation, residential, parks, native industrial , basic and freeway industrial.
The ordinance requires a 200-foot setback from adjoining property traces and requires any developer to carry at the very least one neighborhood informational assembly.
Together with a property worth assure for a residential property adjoining to a fenced border with growth, a non-participating property proprietor and the proprietor eager to take part in a settlement, and there’s a couple of piece of property adjoining to the event.
There’s a provision {that a} developer should present a efficiency assure within the type of a bond or letter of credit score as monetary safety within the quantity of 125% of the decommissioning of a photo voltaic vitality venture.
It additionally requires an financial growth settlement between the developer and the county for the potential loss or switch of property taxes.
At present, solely Invenergy’s $110 million, 120-megawatt proposed Lone Oak Photo voltaic Farm stays eligible for building within the county.
That venture is not going to be affected by the brand new photo voltaic ordinance and the venture has been granted a particular use for building in northern Madison County by the Madison County Board of Zoning Appeals.
The venture might be accomplished by the tip of 2023 and the Plan Fee denied a request for a two-year extension for the venture.
An attraction of the denial of the extension is pending in Grant County.
catheter Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or name 765-640-4863.
