The county Board of Supervisors yesterday adopted a major policy revision to the County General Plan, answering the wishes of property owners and environmentalists and disappointing utility-scale solar and wind energy developers and organized labor. The 4-to-1 vote, with Board Chairman Curt Hagman opposed, followed a five-hour public hearing where close to three dozen members of the public made the case for small-scale solar on rooftops and parking lots, while blocking big projects from being constructed in areas zoned Rural Living and those covered by existing community plans.
Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe of Yucca valley issued this statement after the vote, “Passage of the RECE 4.10 policy gives rural residents a voice in the siting of utility-scale renewable energy projects throughout the unincorporated areas of our County. I voted for this policy because it strikes a balance between protecting desert communities’ way of life, while also providing developers with a clear roadmap for where renewable energy projects should be located within the County. I look forward to continuing the dialogue with renewable energy developers and residents in order to mitigate the impacts associated with utility-scale projects.”
The move is bittersweet especially for residents of Lucerne Valley where almost 7,000 acres of proposed big solar projects are grandfathered in. Also of concern is one of two policy sections added yesterday; the most concerning of which opens the door for developers to build on previously disturbed land within otherwise protected areas and also gives county supervisors the flexibility to make exceptions for projects proposed on or close to the boundary of the protected areas. One thing remains certain, in the coming years, utilities will have to find new ways to meet California’s renewable energy goals.
