County posts energy project ordinance draft online

LEE COUNTY – After close to six months of research, town halls, and deliberations, a countywide solar and wind ordinance is ready for public comment.
A draft of the ordinance, which is close to 50 pages, is currently available on the county’s website at www.leecountyiowa.gov.
Following Tuesday’s regular meeting of the board of supervisors, the board had a workshop to go over some final thoughts on the ordinance before posting for the public to see.
The ordinance is part of an effort by the county to put some regulations in place for the multitude of utility projects that are being proposed for the county, many of which are being opposed by many in the county who say the projects will change the landscape of the county and place undue burdens on property owners.
Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission’s Jarred Lassiter, a senior planner, has been working with the county in putting the ordinance together. Lassiter began with an ordinance in place in Des Moines County, but has added other language specific to Lee County and the wishes of the county board and property owners.
Lee County Supervisor Chairwoman Denise Fraise forwarded the ordinance to the Center for Rural Affairs. She said she wanted to make sure the ordinance was in line with what that agency has been seeing of late.
The ordinance would go into the county code under Title VI, Property and Land Use - Chapter 13, as Regulations for the Siting and Operations of Wind, Solar, and Battery Energy Systems, the purpose of which is to “establish a set of minimum standards for the siting, placement, construction, installation, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of utility-scale Wind, Solar, and Battery Energy Systems, in order to protect the public health, safety, and community welfare of the residents of Lee County”.
The jurisdiction of the ordinance would be all lands within the county excluding territorial jurisdictions of cities and incorporated towns within the county.
Supervisor Garry Seyb, who shepherded the project as former chairman, said the county needs some language to help govern future projects as Lee County becomes a focal point for solar and wind projects.
“I don’t want to cause problems for businesses to be able to do business and this seems a little bit cleaner,” he said.
The ordinance contains 13 articles explaining aspects of siting and design standards including setbacks; conditional and final permitting; decommissioning requirements: road use and damages; wildlife management, emergency response plans; and other general provisions.
The ordinance will require three readings before it becomes part of the code.
“But I’ve got a funny feeling this could be one of those cases where Lee County is leading the way,” Seyb said. “You may see a lot of counties say, ‘Hey, they’ve done the work’. I hope everybody realizes, it’s easy to get everything just thrown together and pass it. We didn’t do that. We’ve taken in six months of talk from the public, the industry, our own thoughts.”
One issue that was still being discussed is the county putting out money for consultants on projects that are under consideration.
Supervisor Tim Wondra asked if companies could put good faith money in escrow accounts to offset county costs, as far as consultants, to review projects for consideration. Seyb said with the current climate, industries probably wouldn’t want to put a bunch of money in that account, unless it was reimbursable if the project didn’t get picked up.
Lassiter said that could be added as a resolution that could be added to the ordinance while it’s being reviewed in the interim.
The draft ordinance can be found by clicking here:: https://www.leecounty.org/files/documents/ProposedOrdinanceDRAFTnews61261478041725-033725PMa.pdf.