The Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission will discuss changes to the county’s zoning ordinance Wednesday that would address concerns about six proposed solar farms that would be built on county farmland, where they are now prohibited.
The solar projects are proposed on farmland in Hampstead, Sykesville and Westminster. Commissioners learned in July that the Maryland Public Service Commission, a state agency that regulates gas, electric, telephone, water and sewer disposal companies, is processing applications for the six proposed solar facilities.
The planning commission’s meeting starts at 6 p.m., Wednesday, in Reagan Room 003, in the county government building at 225 N. Center St., in Westminster.
“What we will be discussing are site design requirements related to solar projects, such as setbacks and landscaping,” Christopher Heyn, director of the county’s Department of Planning & Land Management, stated in an email. “Our current code has requirements for zoning districts where these facilities are allowed, such as the commercial and industrial zoning districts.
“However, we do not have any codes related to projects in the agricultural district, because, the county does not allow those. Our goal is to establish generic requirements for all solar projects.”
A year ago, after several public hearings, work sessions and a recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission, the commissioners adopted an ordinance stating that solar energy-generating facilities are not allowed on farmland in the county; instead, they should be built on land zoned for commercial and industrial use.
Heyn said if the Public Service Commission issues a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity permit, allowing for a solar project on agricultural land, the county will have requirements in place to protect residential neighborhoods. However, the zoning code prohibition on solar farms on agricultural land would remain in place.
“This type of project would still be prohibited by our zoning code, but it has been determined in the courts that the state can preempt local zoning codes for this type of use,” Heyn said.
The detailed six applications are in various stages of the approval process. Since the six new solar-generating farms are prohibited on farmland in the county’s zoning code, each of the applicants has chosen to apply to the state, which could disregard the county’s zoning restrictions.
To address that possibility, commissioners voted unanimously July 25 to ask the Planning and Zoning Commission to examine and recommend changes to the zoning code. These would include new stipulations intended to protect residential neighborhoods near agricultural land where a solar farm could be built.
Heyn has suggested to commissioners that they put new regulations in place quickly, since the state has already held one public hearing and is slated to have another on a solar proposal in October.
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