Renewable Energy Review Committees

Overview

The Renewable Energy Review Committees are special-purpose advisory committees formed for the specific goal of exploring parts of Linn County's Renewable Energy Overlay zoning district requirements for utility-scale renewable energy projects. 

There are four committees with four different focus areas. Each committee met several times over the first half of 2023 to fully explore their focus area of code and write statements to the Board of Supervisors on the effectiveness of the current code. The four committee areas are: Good Neighbor Practices (setbacks and screening), Battery Energy Storage Systems (placement and safety considerations), Balancing Agriculture and Solar (vegetation requirements, agrivoltaic considerations), and Lifecycle Costs (decommissioning plan requirements and considerations, operation and maintenance plan requirements and considerations).

Linn County posted the draft statements on its website and invited residents to submit feedback on the statements before the committees finalized their statements. The four committees, each comprised of five volunteer community members, rewrote the statements several times as needed to achieve consensus from all committee members.

Committee Members

Committee members were selected based on the applications they submitted and their backgrounds and areas of expertise. 

Committee Updates

Linn County’s Planning & Development Director provided regular updates on each committee’s progress during his monthly department update to the Board of Supervisors. The committee updates are posted below as Meeting Summaries. 

Final Statements

The Renewable Energy Committees met multiple times over the course of three months to help evaluate current code and provide input on future code changes. After fully exploring each area of the code, the committees prepared final statements to deliver to the Board of Supervisors on the effectiveness of the current code. The four committees, each comprised of five volunteer community members, rewrote the statements several times as needed to achieve consensus from all committee members. Linn County posted the draft statements on its website and invited residents to submit feedback on the statements before the committees finalized their statements. The public feedback was summarized and presented to the Board of Supervisors alongside the committees’ final statements. Read the final statements linked below under each committee.

Public Feedback on Statements

Linn County invited residents to submit feedback on the statements developed by the four Renewable Energy Committees. A summary of feedback received, along with all feeback submitted is linked directly below this sentence.

Public Feeback on Statements

What's Next

The Linn County Board of Supervisors met on May 30, 2023, and reviewed the statements developed by the Renewable Energy Review Committees related to specific areas of Linn County’s utility-scale solar zoning ordinance. The statements are not specific code recommendations; however, staff will use the statements to draft a new zoning code related to utility-scale solar projects in Linn County. 

View a summary of the Board of Supervisors discussion on the statements. This summary also notes whether or not Planning & Development plans to propose new code for each statement. 

View the Planning & Development staff presentation from the August 16 Planning & Zoning Commission meeting.

View final Renewable Energy ordinance amendments, most recent staff report, and final scorecard.

Review Status

Stay Informed

Sign up to get notified of the meeting agendas for the Planning & Zoning Commission and the Board of Supervisors.

Renewable Energy Committees and Members

Meeting Summaries

• Good Neighbor Practice 1-26-23 Meeting Summary                                                 
• Good Neighbor Practice 2-7-23 Meeting Summary.
• Good Neighbor Practice 2-28-23 Meeting Summary.
• Good Neighbor Practice 3-22-23 Meeting Summary.
• Good Neighbor Practice 3-31-23 Meeting Summary.

Original Research

• Solar Farm Street View Database
• Solar Farm Fencing Examples
• Solar Farm Sounds and Viewshed  and Scorecard Examples
• Solar Farm Flexible Setback Examples
• Linn County Solar Research

Final Statements

• Good Neighbor Practices Committee Final Statements

Meeting Summaries

• Battery Energy Storage Systems 1-26-23 Meeting Summary.                                                                      
• Battery Energy Storage Systems 2-8-23 Meeting Summary.                                          
• Battery Energy Storage Systems 3-1-23 Meeting Summary.                                 
• Battery Energy Storage Systems 3-8-23 Meeting Summary.  
• Battery Energy Storage Systems 3-13-23 Meeting Summary.     
• Battery Energy Storage Systems 3-23-23 Meeting Summary.   
• Battery Energy Storage Systems 3-29-23 Meeting Summary

Final Statements

• Battery Energy Storage Systems Final Statements

Meeting Summaries

• Balancing Agriculture and Solar 1-26-23 Meeting Summary.
• Balancing Agriculture and Solar 2-23-23 Meeting Summary.
• Balancing Agriculture and Solar 3-23-23 Meeting Summary. 
• Balancing Agriculture and Solar 3-30-23 Meeting Summary.

Final Statements

• Balancing Agriculture and Solar Committee Final Statements 

Meeting Summaries

• Lifecycle Costs 1-26-23 Meeting Summary.                                                                                                                         
• Lifecycle costs 2-10-23 Meeting Summary 
• Lifecycle Costs 2-28-23 Meeting Summary.                                                                    
• Lifecycle Costs 3-16-23 Meeting Summary.

Original Research

• Research for Lifestyle Costs Committee

Final Statements

• Lifecycle Costs Committee Final Statements