Linn County Supervisors (from left) Stacey Walker, Ben Rogers, and Louis Zumbach take heed to public remark throughout a gathering of the Linn County Board of Supervisors to debate a proposed Palo photo voltaic farm mission on Monday. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)
PALO — The Linn County Board of Supervisors voted 2-1 in its first studying of a rezoning ordinance that will permit development of two utility-scale photo voltaic initiatives close to Palo to begin.
The vote was alongside occasion traces, because it was throughout every of the three readings for a Coggon photo voltaic mission earlier this 12 months. Democrats Ben Rogers and Stacey Walker voted sure and Republican Louie Zumbach voted no to rezone the realm from agricultural to agricultural with a photo voltaic overlay, permitting for the mission to be constructed.
Zumbach made a movement so as to add a negotiable setback, permitting for as much as 1,250 toes. The county’s setback rule is 300 toes for utility-scale photo voltaic initiatives. The movement was voted down 2-1.
“I believe the 1,250 would permit somebody to have photo voltaic on the farm and permit neighbors to be handled extra pretty,” Zumbach mentioned. “I believe it’s vital for my colleagues to recollect we’re the representatives of rural Linn County. We owe the folks a good shake.”
The supervisors will meet once more Tuesday night time at 6 p.m. in Palo for the second studying. The third and remaining studying is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 6. All the conferences are being held on the Palo Neighborhood Middle, 2800 Hollenbeck Rd.
There was little dialogue amongst board members earlier than they voted, however the supervisors did ask many questions of developer NextEra. The board requested about screening for non-participating landowners, chemical compounds inside the photo voltaic panels and who takes duty if a pure catastrophe blows panels into neighbors’ yards.
Whereas NextEra will develop the mission, Alliant Vitality filed a proposal with the Iowa Utilities Board to purchase the large-scale photo voltaic mission from NextEra and additional develop it into the state’s largest photo voltaic and battery storage facility, if that plan receives approval.
Representatives of NextEra and Alliant Vitality instructed the supervisors that within the case of a pure catastrophe just like the August 2020 derecho, anybody who sustains harm from any of the businesses’ property would “be made complete.”
The Duane Arnold Photo voltaic I mission proposes to make use of 316 acres of an 857-acre space to position photovoltaic photo voltaic arrays able to producing as much as 50 megawatts of vitality.
The Duane Arnold Photo voltaic II mission would use 815 acres of a 1,780-acre space to position photo voltaic arrays able to producing as much as 150 MW. It might additionally embrace a 75-MW, four-hour battery vitality storage facility. The battery vitality storage system could have about 96 20 x 8-foot containers that may home 7,040 lithium-ion battery modules.
Audio system share help, urge opposition
Public remark on the assembly lasted a number of hours, as has grow to be commonplace for county conferences surrounding the subject.
Rick Nugent holds an indication in opposition to a proposed photo voltaic mission throughout a gathering of the Linn County Board of Supervisors on Monday. The supervisors voted 2-1 to approve the primary studying of a zoning change that will permit for the mission to be constructed by NextEra. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)
Palo Mayor Eric Van Kerckhove identified that the Palo Metropolis Council voted unanimously to undertake a decision opposing the NextEra mission.
“The initiatives are straight within the path of Palo’s development. The overall consensus of the residents of Palo, (they) have expressed to the council that the neighborhood is against the event,” he mentioned. “The Metropolis of Palo respectfully requests the supervisors deny the requests.”
Rick Hannen, a retired farmer who lives close to Middle Level, mentioned he needs his land was inside mission boundaries so he might take part.
Rick Hannen speaks in help of a proposed photo voltaic mission throughout a gathering of the Linn County Board of Supervisors in Palo on Monday. Hannen, a retired farmer, cited financial advantages, property rights, and environmental considerations as causes for his help. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)
“I might make much more cash,” he mentioned. “However we now have a duty to the world. It’s vital. I would like my grandkids and their children to know that I spoke as much as do the precise factor for the setting.”
NextEra representatives have mentioned they plan to have the Palo initiatives operational by December 2024. Development is projected to start within the first quarter of 2023, if the initiatives are authorized.
NextEra, which has operated in Iowa since 1999 and has 12 wind farms within the state, mentioned it plans to speculate $800 million within the photo voltaic mission, together with $50 million paid to landowners for voluntary easements over the mission’s 30-year life span. It might be the corporate’s first photo voltaic mission in Iowa.
The applying for the Palo photo voltaic initiatives was submitted in February. It consists of web site plans, a decommissioning plan, financial and land-use evaluation, vegetation administration plan, agricultural impression mitigation plan, setback evaluation and a screening plan together with different paperwork. The mission is estimated to cut back carbon dioxide emissions by about 9.49 million metric tons per 12 months.
Linn County Planning and Growth Director Charlie Nichols mentioned county employees really useful approval of the mission with the county’s present stipulations. These embrace a 300-foot setback from non-participating landowners.
Final month, the Linn County Planning and Zoning Fee voted 4-3 to advocate approval of the zoning change.
That is the second utility-scale photo voltaic mission the county has thought-about this 12 months. In January, the supervisors authorized developer Clenera’s Coggon mission in a 2-1 vote after planning and zoning fee members voted 6-1 to advocate denial.
Progress on the 640-acre photo voltaic farm close to Coggon is on maintain whereas a courtroom resolves a case introduced towards the supervisors by a household who lives close to the positioning.
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