Solar farm clears plat committee
Emerald Green advances to June 17 plan commission for site approval
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The proposed Emerald Green solar farm for the east side of Howard County has cleared one of the final hurdles necessary to become a reality. Engie received a recommendation from the Howard County to go before the plan commission on June 17 for final site approval.
The committee met on June 3 and was joined by several concerned citizens, along with local officials overseeing the final details that must be reconciled. And the recommendation was made, with one dissenting vote.
The plat committee is a public meeting, but Plan Commission director Greg Sheline explained to the group as the meeting began that it is not a public forum.
“I appreciate everyone showing up,” said Sheline. “This is a technical review on the Engie project. The public is welcome to attend, but we do not entertain any questions or comments from the public during this meeting.”
The committee members discussed the issues that remained unresolved with the project. Earlier this spring, the Howard County Drainage Board tackled the issue of a public drain serving the project area and initially paused the project until it could be determined how the drain would be maintained. With that board’s concerns now addressed, the solar farm advanced to the plat meeting.
Like the majority of public drains in Howard County, maintenance is funded through ditch assessments, and Howard County Surveyor Greg Lake explained that the process of increasing that assessment will have to take place so that the needed repairs can be made. But that no longer will delay the solar farm project.
Instead, two final issues remained unresolved. One, as Lake brought up to the committee is a stormwater permit, which has yet to be issued.
“I think it's going to go very quickly,” said Lake of the permitting process. “I don't see it being any issue. They're supposed to have the plans to us June 9.”
Typically, the stormwater permit is issued before the plan commission votes the final site plan. In this case, Lake and Sheline agreed that the site plan could be voted on contingent on a stormwater permit being issued.
“With this project and its size, we've talked about how to keep it moving without everything coming to a halt because our permit is extensive and expensive,” said Lake. “And it is non-refundable, so if anything caught them up in this process after they applied for their stormwater permit, that's a massive dollar amount that they would not get back.”
Lake explained that all of the necessary reviews have taken place, and he did not see any further issues with it. Sheline stated that the plan commission also had looked over the plan extensively and saw nothing that would prevent the solar farm from advancing.
“They've actually followed the new solar ordinance to a T, which actually is better for the folks that live out in that area,” said Sheline. “Their setbacks are 300 feet, and our ordinance only called for 50 feet. They made a huge difference. And I know the drainage board approval has already been received.”
The second issue not resolved was brought forward by Howard County Commissioner Jack Dodd, who also serves on the plat committee.
“Looking through the solar ordinance, it mentions that we must come to these certain agreements – road use, drainage, decommissioning, and economic development,” siad Dodd. “We have all those except the economic development agreement. For this to move forward, we still have to come to that economic development agreement.”
Tom Schoder, lead representative for Engie, agreed that the economic development agreement is not yet finalized, but both the company and the county are working to resolve it quickly. Sheline proposed that final approval could also be contingent upon that agreement being reached.
Sheline was particularly impressed by the diligence shown by Engie and the remarkable amount of information it provided.
“I wish every developer would bring in everything that we asked for like they have,” said Sheline, holding up a thick file containing the details of Engie’s plan. “It's full of information, and there's a full set of plans in here.”
Schoder reiterated the company’s intent to follow all of the ordinances and requirements the county has set forth.
“There will be regular meetings between highway staff and the surveyor staff throughout construction to make sure that everything is being done properly per those agreements,” said Schoder. “We are making sure that we're designing a project that can coexist well. We're leaving plenty of setback so there are areas that can continue to be farmed.
“We'll be using deer fencing throughout the project area. We’re looking at diverse species vegetation under and around the panels. Our project is complying with the ordinance.”
Before the vote to recommend was taken, one member – Mike Imbler – made it clear that this vote did not have to necessarily reflect how he might vote on the solar farm’s site plan approval. With that caveat made clear, Imbler was the lone dissenting vote for the project to move to the plan commission.
With the approval, the Emerald Green solar farm project will receive its final hearing on Tue., June 17, at the Howard County Plan Commission meeting. The hearing will take place at 5 p.m. at the Howard County Administration Building and is open to the public.