Farmland Protection Regulation
Approximately forty local landowners, along with other interested citizens who appreciate the potential of well-regulated solar have formed a group we call Limestone Solar.
We have identified 38 changes to improve the JPC’s Sept 2021 draft solar ordinance. These changes are modeled on the KY Model Solar ordinance and the Dec 2020 draft solar ordinance circulated by Judge Pfeffer.
This page discussed only the eighteenth improvement – Protecting land during construction requirments
This section is in the Kentucky Model Code and the Dec 2020 Solar draft but was not included in the Sept 2021 draft. It should be included.
Improved version
Protection of Farmland And Revegetation Of Disturbed Areas
- Compaction of soil associated with the location of roads and installation staging areas for Intermediate and Large Scale Ground Mounted SES on land zoned for agricultural use shall be minimized to the extent possible. Compaction of soil associated with the location of roads and installation staging areas for all Ground Mounted SES on land zoned for agricultural use that are classified either as prime farmland or farmland of statewide importance shall be avoided to the extent possible, and the soils shall be de-compacted as part of the decommissioning process except those road the land owner desires to use after the SES is gone.
- Upon completion of construction and installation of the Ground Mounted SES, all temporary roads constructed by the applicant shall be removed, and all disturbed areas shall be graded and reseeded with a seed mix that does not include invasive species in order to establish an effective ground cover and to minimize erosion and sedimentation.
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