City officials are moving forward with plans to not allow solar farms in Columbus or its extended jurisdiction. However, there is still another step to go before the changes are final.
Columbus City Council voted Wednesday to approve the second reading of changes to the city’s zoning ordinance.
According to city/county planning director Jeff Bergman, the zoning ordinance changes will have to return to the Columbus Plan Commission for another vote, since the council decided to amend the zoning ordinance changes that were drafted by the commission.
The amendment, which was proposed by Councilman Frank Miller at a previous meeting, strikes a section that lists commercial solar energy systems (CSES) as a conditional use in the Agriculture: Preferred (AP) and Agricultural: General Rural (AG) zoning districts.
Planning officials define CSES as systems that capture and convert solar energy into electricity for the primary purpose of selling this energy for use in locations other than the site at which it is generated. At present, CSES are a conditional use in the AP district and are prohibited elsewhere, Bergman said in a previous interview.
Miller said that while he is not against solar power, he wants to protect the city’s opportunities for future growth.
Per the city’s zoning ordinance, any use that is not listed as a permitted use or a conditional use in a district is generally considered prohibited.
“The Planning Director may determine into which category any questionable use is placed if it is not specifically listed but is similar to another use that is a permitted or a conditional use,” the ordinance adds. “This determination may be appealed to the Board of Zoning Appeals.”
Bergman said that it is “always possible” for someone to seek a use variance through the BZA for something that is not listed as permitted or conditional.
Conditional uses also require approval from the BZA or the BZA hearing officer.
In addition to allowing CSES as a conditional use in two zoning districts, the plan commission’s draft of the zoning ordinance changes included development standards for CSES, with these largely mirroring the county’s ordinance.
The main difference was that while the county regulations state that solar fields must be at least a half-mile away from municipal boundary lines, the city plan commission’s draft stated that solar fields could not be located in areas that lie within the city’s extended planning jurisdiction unless city officials agreed to a waiver.
However, the amended draft of the ordinance changes, if approved, makes this a moot point.
“Those facilities just aren’t permitted, so there’s no need for setback exceptions or waivers or those kind of things,” Bergman said.
The subject of commercial solar regulations has generated a great deal of public interest. At past meetings of the plan commission and city council, several individuals have opposed having solar farms within the city’s extended jurisdiction. However, others have spoken out in favor of less regulation.
Three individuals spoke at Wednesday’s meeting, asking the council to reconsider its plan.
Staci Goodwin said that she spoke both as one of the landowners involved with a solar farm and a “30-year employee of the state of Indiana in the environmental field.”
“I know people who have overseen the installation of these solar projects,” she said. “So that’s the first thing I did, is I went to them and said, ‘OK, I’ve got this opportunity. Would you do it or not?’ This person who happens to oversee this is also a farmer. And the first words out of his mouth: he’d do it in a heartbeat.”
Sean Cavanagh with Samsung advocated for a more varied approach, with the city identifying individual growth areas rather than being restrictive in its entire two-mile jurisdiction.
He also said that making CSES require a use variance, as opposed to conditional use approval, will make these projects “almost near-impossible.”
“This is going to paint a picture for Columbus, the county of Bartholomew — over the entire state of Indiana, there’s going to be a black eye for renewable energy in this area,” Cavanagh said. “Huge businesses are going to look at this. Cummins has already shown their support for renewable energy. What this essentially does is going to have a ripple effect for years to come.”
In addition to regulations around solar farms, other proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance include topics such as manufactured housing, accessory dwellings and electrical vehicle charging stations.
The update also includes new sections for on-site solar systems and neighborhood-scale solar systems.
Where to learn more
To view a copy of the proposed zoning ordinance changes, go to columbus.in.gov/clerk-treasurer/city-council-agendas/ and click on “Current Agenda.”
For information on upcoming Columbus Plan Commission meetings, go to columbus.in.gov/planning/agendas-materials/.
