We are very pleased to report that the Page County Board of Supervisors listened to citizens and hit the brakes on the solar ordinance at the May 18 meeting.
This is the result of a lot of hard work by Page citizens and we commend their vigilance and all the comments sent and meetings attended.
Over two dozen members of the public made comments on Tuesday, several from the farming community, two of whom arrived at the county office building on their tractors! Citizens, again, expressed concerns regarding the weak ordinance and the vulnerable position in which it would leave Page County’s agriculture and tourism economy if passed.
And several of the supervisors echoed concerns we’ve raised in the months since the Planning Commission’s version was voted down. Supervisors decided in order to get this right:
- The ordinance needs further review and directed the county attorney to delve into the pitfalls of relying on the special use permit (vs. a protective ordinance) to regulate industrial-scale solar projects.
- There is a need for further exploration into smaller community-scale solar projects before passing the ordinance.
This work could be our path back to the protections included in the original ordinance supported by the planning commission and the public back in December. We applaud the board for hitting pause so that Page County has an ordinance that respects and protects its gorgeous and productive landscapes.
The board requested additional legal review of the ordinance by the next meeting on June 15. We will keep you posted on the next steps. And, again, we sincerely thank every citizen who has submitted comments, attended the meetings, made phone calls to the supervisors and stayed involved with this critical land use decision facing Page County – it is making a difference and the Board is listening!