From Genny_Bond at co.washington.or.us Thu Feb 7 15:30:39 2019 From: Genny_Bond at co.washington.or.us (Genny Bond) Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2019 23:30:39 +0000 Subject: [Solar_rulemaking] comments Message-ID: Washington County has reviewed and approved 4 solar farms to date, from 3 different solar companies. Each has been proposed and approved as a fully fenced facility, due to applicant concerns about theft of metals and other materials, and potential for homeless encampments. Each applicant has stipulated that farming within the facility is not possible, because of the need for security fencing. Grazing of livestock/sheep is not possible because these will be fenced and unstaffed-attendant visits every 6 months. Impacts to wildlife/birds has been a topic of discussion. We've consulted with Audobon Society and ODFW regarding their experience with fenced solar farms-there isn't much documentation as yet. The last one we approved, we included a condition requiring the perimeter fence include one or two openings, to allow ingress/egress by wildlife yet prevent human access-we'll see how this pans out. The decision included a provision "encouraging" the solar company to report any bird/wildlife entrapment or fatalities to ODFW and/or Audobon, just for research purposes. Solar companies typically propose rodent management inside the fenced area via traps-live traps and otherwise-but these facilities will be visited by an attendant once every 6 months. Trapping would likely be ineffective/inhumane. Predator access into and out of the facility might prevent rodent problems. Any allowance for solar farms on high-value farmland on the basis of "dual use" for farming within the solar farm: not sure this would be enforceable. Genny Bond | Senior Planner Washington County Department of Land Use & Transportation Current Planning Division | Rural Section Office Location (Temporary): Adams Crossing Building, 161 NW Adams Ave, Hillsboro OR, 97124 Mailing Address: 155 N. First Avenue, Suite 350, MS16 | Hillsboro, OR 97124 503-846-3846 direct | 503-846-2908 fax Genny_bond at co.washington.or.us | www.co.washington.or.us/lut -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Genny_Bond at co.washington.or.us Thu Feb 7 15:50:25 2019 From: Genny_Bond at co.washington.or.us (Genny Bond) Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2019 23:50:25 +0000 Subject: [Solar_rulemaking] Comment Message-ID: Suggestion: encourage solar farms on abandoned nursery sites--allow as a more streamlined permitted use: add as a (1) use. Wording could be tricky-sites which have featured gravel or compacted surfacing for at least 5 years prior to application submittal, ...or?? Genny Bond | Senior Planner Washington County Department of Land Use & Transportation Current Planning Division | Rural Section Office Location (Temporary): Adams Crossing Building, 161 NW Adams Ave, Hillsboro OR, 97124 Mailing Address: 155 N. First Avenue, Suite 350, MS16 | Hillsboro, OR 97124 503-846-3846 direct | 503-846-2908 fax Genny_bond at co.washington.or.us | www.co.washington.or.us/lut -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rob.hallyburton at state.or.us Thu Feb 7 15:56:22 2019 From: rob.hallyburton at state.or.us (Hallyburton, Rob) Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2019 23:56:22 +0000 Subject: [Solar_rulemaking] Updated solar rulemaking notice Message-ID: An updated notice for parties interested in the rulemaking regarding approval of photovoltaic solar power generating facilities in exclusive farm use zones is attached. The final date for submitting comments is moved from February 15 to May 7, 2019. -Rob [cid:image001.jpg at 01D4BEFD.ABF7BCD0] Rob Hallyburton Rural Policy Analyst Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development 635 Capitol Street NE, Suite 150 | Salem, OR 97301-2540 Direct: 503-934-0018 | Cell: 503-931-7823 | Main: 503-373-0050 rob.hallyburton at state.or.us | www.oregon.gov/LCD -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 2654 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 660-033_Solar_InterestedParty_notice_20190207.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 233946 bytes Desc: 660-033_Solar_InterestedParty_notice_20190207.pdf URL: