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Applications for solar facilities in Pinal County to be processed quicker in proposed change

Posted 9/30/19

Bonnybrooke, Apple's 50-megawatt photovoltaic solar power plant in Pinal County. (Salt River Project) Allowing solar photovoltaic energy production …

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Applications for solar facilities in Pinal County to be processed quicker in proposed change

Posted
Bonnybrooke, Apple's 50-megawatt photovoltaic solar power plant in Pinal County. (Salt River Project)

Allowing solar photovoltaic energy production facilities of up to 640 acres to be processed as a non-major comprehensive plan amendment is to be discussed Oct. 17 by the Pinal County Planning and Zoning Commission.

Non-major amendments can be considered at any time of the year, while major amendments are heard once per calendar year, according to the comprehensive plan.

Increased applications for utility-grade solar facilities prompted the need for the change, according to a Pinal County Planning and Development Services document.

The change will “Help process the applications faster rather than wait for one year as non-major amendments happen over the year reducing wait time for applicants,” it states.

“Need for solar power facilities has been growing every year with Pinal County being one of the selected count(ies) due to availability of vast land area and reduced agricultural economy,” Sangeeta Deokar, county planner, wrote in a memo to the Pinal County Citizen Advisory Committee.

“Solar facilities do not have a negative impact on the land use and are considered ‘benign’ in nature,” she said.

Non-major amendments for the solar uses would be processed similar to Pinal County rezoning cases.

They “could happen across the year rather than be locked for ‘yearly’ processing. Large-acreage facilities would still need review for the potential impacts due to the large construction footprints,” Ms. Deokar said.

The county planning and zoning commission meets at 9 a.m. Oct. 17 in the Pinal County Emergency Operations Center, 31 N. Pinal St. in Florence.

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors is slated to discuss the matter at meetings at 9:30 a.m. Wednesdays, Nov. 20 and Dec. 18, in the county’s administrative complex, 135 N. Pinal St. in Florence.