Various Proposed Solar Ordinances

Solar, if well-regulated, can improve our ecological and financial future while replacing lost tobacco and dairy income. Three source documents are mentioned while Maysville and Mason County attempts to craft such a regulation.

• KENTUCKY MODEL SOLAR ZONING ORDINANCE Sept 2020
  • The Kentucky Resources Council has developed this Model Solar Zoning Ordinance to assist localities in adopting provisions to regulate the siting of solar energy facilities in their communities. This Model Solar Zoning Ordinance is based upon a review of best practices from across the United States and is tailored to meet the unique needs of Kentucky, with the goals of encouraging appropriate siting of solar facilities and protection of the correlative rights of landowners to the use and enjoyment of their lands.

• Initial draft ordinance crirculated by Judge Pfeffer Nov 2020

• Solar Energry System Ordinance Draft V1.0

Some folks deny that Mason County must replace the income lost as dairy and tobacco. Others are not worried about the soil erosion or chemicals entering our watersheds from current agricultural practices. For this and other reasons, they seek to block all solar development just as they blocked all wind power.

These opponents advocate basing solar regulations on the wind energy regulations they used to block the wind. Solar and Wind use different technologies. That fact indicates we should pattern our solar regulations on the KY model ordinance and existing solar ordinances in other jurisdictions. The push to use the Mason County Wind Energy ordinance as a model is being advocated by those whose main hope is to block all mid and large-scale solar from Mason County.

The Nov 2020 draft ordinance circulated by Judge Pfeffer is a better starting point for solar regulation than the Solar Energy System Ordinance Draft V1.0

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