A so-called “Conditional Use” idea for Community Solar in Montgomery County IS NOT a compromise - It’s a DEAD END for Community Solar

A memo from the MoCo Sierra Club and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network

Summary: Despite more than a year of careful analysis, compromise, and inclusion of strong environmental and agricultural protections, opponents of limited Community Solar in Montgomery County have now begun to push the idea of “Conditional Use” permitting. This idea is not a compromise, and it is not a reasonable policy solution in an era of rapid climate change. It is in reality a DEAD END for Community Solar development in Montgomery County, even when that energy is dedicated to low-income household users. Community Solar in the Agricultural Reserve will provide low-cost solar power to over 50,000 families. They’re small projects by solar standards, but too big to be built on any roof or parking lot. Without the ability to have Community Solar on less than 2% of land in the Ag Reserve, County residents won‘t have access to the low-cost clean energy that Community Solar provides elsewhere.

As the ZTA is now written, it gives the County’s Planning Board a large set of specific conditions and requirements that must be met to gain project approval. But, as the memo below reveals, so-called “Conditional Use” zoning would effectively stop Community Solar by basically eliminating the County Planning Board, which has supported limited solar development, from the final solar project approval process. “Conditional Use” would subject solar projects to time-consuming and expensive additional requirements and to the SUBJECTIVE will of an unidentified Hearing Examiner who could basically terminate proposed solar projects for almost any reason. In effect, even a limited amount of solar production reserved for low-income households would be banned unless the additional “conditions” are met, and then still be exposed to the uncertain and potentially arbitrary decision of an Examiner whose connection to the County is not specified. "Conditional Use" was formerly called "Special Exception," and that's what it's for - one-off, individual exceptions to zoning rules. No wonder reputable community solar developers in our region - and well as the Sierra Club and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network - have rejected this last-minute attempt to effectively ban Community Solar from our county.

The ZTA sets a high bar for solar projects, including the requirement to include pollinator-friendly planting or other agricultural practices. After a year of shared work, we have a compromise Solar ZTA 20-01 that passed in a joint committee of the Montgomery County Council last week. The full Council must now approve ZTA 20-01 and reject “conditional use” as a DEAD END for solar.