ADA COUNTY, Idaho — Ada County stretches over 1,000 square miles, encompassing acres of farming and desert land.
Soon, verbiage around the county’s zoning ordinances and standards for industrial solar farms could change.
“I think it’s a good idea, I think we need to have it. We just need to be careful of the wording that’s in there.” said Davis.
Debbie Davis and Dustin Ferdinand are some of the neighbors invested in where solar farms are developed, especially after they say one proposed plant threatened their peaceful, rural lifestyles last year.
“And really make sure that what’s in there is accurate, especially when they’re saying it is prime ground so I mean there’s a lot of leeway in those definitions,” said Davis.
Richard Beck with the county’s Development Services says in the last few years they’ve seen an increase in industrial solar applications… but decision makers say there is a lack of standards.
“Developers who are interested would have to tell us or provide a plan on how they would decommission the site, how they would address security and fire, [and] mitigating the impacts to sensitive wildlife and plant species… those types of things,” said Beck.
Besides modernizing requirements for solar farm applications, the county is looking to revise all zoning ordinances.
“It's the people’s ordinance, it’s their law, their standards so we want to try to find a balance that considers all voices,” said Beck.
With the county’s growing population, Idaho Power has reported they’re looking for more energy production to serve customers.
“We wanna work together with Idaho power and with everybody in the cities in the counties and everybody because we know we need to find places for these resources. We just have to be smart and you can’t compromise a community,” said Davis.
Ada County Contact Info – for questions or to submit comments:
Leon Letson lletson@adacounty.id.gov
Stacey DuPuis sdupuis@adacounty.id.gov
Learn more here:
Solar Farms: https://adacounty.id.gov/developmentservices/solar-farms-zoning-ordinance-amendment/ [adacounty.id.gov]
Zoning Ordinance Rewrite: https://adacounty.id.gov/developmentservices/administration/zoning-ordinance-amendment/ [adacounty.id.gov]
