Champaign to consider regulations on solar fields
Apr. 17—CHAMPAIGN — A proposal from the city of Champaign's planning department would allow large solar developments to be built in industrial areas but require special approval for other zoning districts.
The Champaign Plan Commission will consider whether to forward an amendment to the city's zoning ordinance to the city council with a positive recommendation during its 4 p.m. meeting today.
The proposed change includes a new land-use category for "power generation facilities," which are defined as standalone facilities with "the sole purpose of generating power."
In discussing the need for the change, planning staff wrote that the city of Champaign has received an increased number of requests to build "large-scale solar arrays" in recent months. The trend has coincided with a rise in rooftop and accessory solar panel installations on homes and businesses.
At present, the zoning ordinance does not include a definition or regulations for large-scale solar developments, so each individual project requires a special-use permit regardless of the zoning district where it is proposed.
Senior Planner for Advanced Planning Lacey Rains Lowe said the city has generally received proposals to build these facilities on land on the "immediate edge" of its municipal boundary.
However, the planning department sees these as potential growth areas for new development based on factors such as access to sanitary sewer, transit and community amenities.
"The majority of the land that's immediately on the perimeter of the city's existing municipal boundary that's within our growth area is land that we might want to be able to have new housing, for example," Rains Lowe said.
Including power generation facilities in the zoning ordinance would ensure that they are built in "suitable locations" that have minimal public impact and are compatible with nearby land uses, planning staff stated in a report to the commission.
"While the impetus for this change is needed to address solar projects, the definition developed would also apply to power generation facilities of all types, including fossil fuel power plants," they added.
However, the regulations for power generation facilities do not apply to rooftop solar panels or free-standing solar arrays that are accessory to existing development, planning staff said. Such structures are permitted by right on existing developed lots "when they generate power for the principal use of the property."
The proposal would make power generation facilities a permitted use in the Heavy Industrial Zoning District.
In the Light Industrial Zoning District, these facilities would be allowed provisionally, with a condition that the lots where they are built must be at least five acres or larger.
"Lots of this size would provide adequate space for the facility to operate," planning staff wrote. "The City has lots zoned Light Industrial that are under five acres that are adjacent to commercial or residential areas, so the size provision would ensure that facilities develop adjacent to compatible land uses."
If the proposed amendment is approved by the city council, developers who wish to build large-scale solar arrays in other zoning districts would need to go through a special planning process to seek approval, Rains Lowe said.
She added that the department expects to see more proposals for these kinds of facilities in the future.
"(The amendment) allows us to have another tool in the toolbox to deal with those proposals so we can find the best location that balances all of those sustainability goals and infrastructure goals and allows us to grow in a compact, contiguous way," Rains Lowe said.
