York County Press Release
YORK – The York County Commissioners have sent the proposed solar zoning regulations back to the county’s zoning and planning commission for further review and possible revisions.
“I put this on the agenda to see where we all think we are at, as far as the proposed solar regulations before us,” York County Commissioner Chairman Randy Obermier told his fellow board this week. “Last week, we had a good meeting with Marvin Planning Consultants and we heard them say a few things that gave me pause.”
Marvin Planning Consultants have reviewed the proposed regulations and made some recommendations, mostly regarding how the county might have too many categories listed as far as identifying different types of solar fields based on size and different regulations for each.
“This has me thinking we send these proposed regulations back to the planning/zoning board to discuss and work through with Marvin,”
Obermier said. “Is that something we want to do? I think there were good questions about the amount of categories.”
“I think we need to send it back to the zoning board,” said Commissioner Andy Bowman, “so they can work with Marvin to see if they want to make proposed changes.”
“Well, Marvin brought up some good points,” Obermier said.
“I have no problem sending it back to the zoning board,” said Commissioner Daniel Grotz. “We have a good document at this point, but is it the one we want to live and die by? I don’t think it is, at this point. I think we let the planning and zoning board review it and go from there.”
“So we will see what happens,” Obermier said. “They (consultants with the Marvin group) said as long as we continue to move forward, this won’t be seen as stalling because it isn’t. We just want to make sure these regulations we eventually finalize are exactly what we want them to be.”
The commissioners agreed to send it back to the planning and zoning board, acknowledging that the advisory committee might just send it back to the county board with no changes.
“We will just see what they think and go from there,” Grotz added.
Marvin Planning Consultants just joined in on this effort, as they were contracted after the public hearing was held before the county board. They have been tasked with reviewing the regulations and making recommendations to ensure the rules put forward will legally hold up and provide equal protection for landowners.
