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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Linn County supervisors to take first votes on solar moratorium next week
The first public hearing and consideration is Monday, Oct. 3, at 11 a.m.
CEDAR RAPIDS — The first consideration for a likely solar moratorium is scheduled for Monday by the Linn County Board of Supervisors.
The moratorium, if approved, would be in effect for 12 months, or less, if the code governing industrial solar installations in the county is updated before then.
The proposed moratorium would allow projects already approved to continue, but the county would not accept new applications during the moratorium.
If passed, the second and third votes on the measure would take place Wednesday and the following Wednesday, Oct. 12.
All three meetings are to begin at 11 a.m. in the Jean Oxley Linn County Public Service Center, 935 Second St. SW in Cedar Rapids.
The three county supervisors have told The Gazette they plan to vote in support of the moratorium.
County staffers have twice recommended moratoriums, but those proposals were voted down, 2-1, with Supervisor Louie Zumbach opposed.
The supervisors have approved three utility-scale solar projects this year. The vote for each project was 2-1, with Zumbach opposed.
The most recent was NextEra’s Duane Arnold projects near Palo. In January, the supervisors approved the Coggon-based Clenera project.
“Linn County’s code for renewable energy projects such as utility scale solar is one of the best codes in the country,” County Planning and Development Director Charlie Nichols said. “We believe we can now make it even better after our experience with the two recent rezoning applications from Coggon Solar LLC and Duane Arnold Solar LLC.”
If the moratorium passes, the planning and development department will create review committees to look at specific areas of the renewable energy code, including setbacks, vegetation, screening, agrivoltaics and battery energy storage systems.
The committees would meet in October and November.
“The review committees will include Linn County residents, subject matter experts and county staff,” Nichols said.
“Together, we will review our current code and identify specific areas where we can make it even better than the current version,” he said.
Residents interested in being on the committees can fill out an application on the county website.
Comments: (319) 398-8255; gage.miskimen@thegazette.com
Linn County Supervisors (from left) Stacey Walker, Ben Rogers, and Louis Zumbach listen to public comment during a meeting to discuss the proposed Palo solar farm project on Aug. 29, 2022. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)
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