The Valley County Planning and Zoning Commission denied what would be the county’s first commercial solar farm.
The solar farm, proposed by McCall residents Kristen and Sean Rogers, would build an unspecified number of ground-mounted solar panels about 1,500 feet east of Idaho 55, five miles south of Donnelly.
“The project is designed to benefit the community, the economy, and America while keeping Donnelly at the forefront of innovative energy solutions,” Kristen Rogers told the commission.
The proposal
The Rogers would lease the land for the solar farm, which would be on about 16 acres at 12600 Goode Ln., to Maryland-based Reify Solutions, which would own and operate the solar equipment.
Power generated by the solar farm would be sold to Idaho Power, local businesses and the City of Donnelly, which could reduce its energy costs by up to 30%, according to the application.
Renewable solar energy created by the panels would be the equivalent of planting 178,863 trees or removing 855 cars from Idaho 55, the application said.
However, P&Z commissioners bristled at the application’s “lacking” details and doubted the solar farm’s compatibility with nearby homes before voting to deny a conditional use permit for it.
“I’m not sure that even with a more complete plan, we could actually approve this because of the impacts to neighbors,” said P&Z Chair Katlin Caldwell, who also questioned if Valley County is an “appropriate place or climate for a solar project.”
The P&Z’s denial can be appealed to Valley County Commissioners until Nov. 25 at 5 p.m.
Neighbors against
Three neighbors spoke in opposition to the solar farm during a public hearing, labeling it as an “eye sore” that would tank surrounding property values.
“We’d be lucky to give away our properties if we needed or wanted to sell them at some time,” said Julie Dahl, a Nampa resident who owns a home on Takeuchi Drive just west of the proposal.
“I think you better think long and hard about putting this in a residential area,” said Lee Wine, who lives along Seubert Lane just west of the proposal. “It doesn’t need to be there.”
Without donors like you, this story would not exist.
Make a donation of any size here
However, not everyone was opposed to the aesthetic of the solar panels.
“As far as the solar panels, I don’t think it’d bother me,” said Charlie Gibson of Boise, who owns a home to the east of the proposal and had concerns about maintenance access to the solar farm by way of Goode Lane.
Commission: vague and doesn’t meet code
The P&Z also said the solar farm would conflict with the Valley County Comprehensive Plan’s goal of “maintaining a rural atmosphere.”
The application also did not meet other parts of county code, including minimum public road frontage requirements for commercial businesses, P&Z Administrator Cynda Herrick said.
Materials submitted with the application were “vague” and did not include setbacks, solar panel dimensions, lot coverage figures, and other information, Herrick said.
Rogers told commissioners she sought approval for the conditional use permit before hiring engineers to design the solar farm and obtaining building permits.
“That’s not the way it works here,” commissioner Heidi Schneider said. “I can’t make a decision based on what we have here.”
Instead of traditional zoning, Valley County has a multiple-use concept that involves evaluating proposals on a case-by-case basis for compatibility.
The solar farm application received a -5 on Valley County’s compatibility evaluation, for which the highest possible score is +40 and the lowest possible score is -40.
The evaluations weigh nine different criteria, including adjacent land uses, traffic, utility availability, and emergency response capability.
