Floyd County Supervisors still working on commercial solar project moratorium

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Floyd County Board of Supervisors remains committed to passing a moratorium on commercial solar energy projects, but decided to take no action on a resolution presented at the board’s meeting Tuesday morning.

Supervisor Chair Dennis Kiefer and Supervisor Boyd Campbell said a moratorium is needed to prevent any commercial solar projects from beginning in the county, until the possibilities are discussed thoroughly. But they said they would like some revisions to a proposed moratorium resolution that had been based on one passed by Boone County.

Supervisor Gloria Carr, who was attending the meeting remotely, said she didn’t have a problem with a commercial solar moratorium while rules are being developed, but she also said a moratorium is not needed because commercial solar projects are already not allowed in the county.

Carr said she had talked with John Roberts, a senior planner with the North Iowa Area Council of Governments (NIACOG), who said that the current Floyd County zoning ordinance has no language in it allowing commercial solar projects, either through a permitting process or through a conditional use permit, but a moratorium “wouldn’t hurt.”

Campbell asked why a moratorium was needed for commercial wind projects while those rules were being discussed, and Carr said the current county zoning already has rules for commercial wind projects, and companies had begun working on new wind projects under those rules.

“Those are the rules the MidAmerican wind farm was developed under,” she said.

The previous Board of Supervisors, of whom Keifer is the only returning member, had agreed that the existing commercial wind energy rules are outdated and need revising to take into account new wind technology and new information about wind energy.

Roberts, the NIACOG planner, had helped the Floyd County Planning and Zoning Commission come up with a proposed commercial wind energy and battery storage zoning amendment, although that proposal was then significantly amended by Keifer and former Supervisor Jim Jorgensen.

Campbell is now part of a team that is working in private with a professional mediator to develop a compromise recommendation on the wind energy ordinance to bring back to the board.

The proposed solar moratorium resolution says, “The Floyd County Board of Adjustment shall not accept or Approve any applications for conditional use permits or any other pennits for the installation of utility-scale solar energy projects in the unincorporated areas of Floyd County from the effective date of this Resolution until such time as the Floyd County Zoning Ordinance is amended to provided regular procedure for the issuance of permits specifically for utility-scale energy projects. …”

Keifer said he would change the Board of Adjustment to the Board of Supervisors to put the decision in the supervisor’s hands, but Carr said only the Board of Adjustment can issue conditional use permits.

Keifer said he would again confer with the county attorney about bringing back a revised resolution.

Also at the board meeting this week, which was held Tuesday morning instead of the usual Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the supervisors:

• Went into closed session with the Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors (by conference call) to discuss with attorneys ongoing legal action against Iowa Northern Railway Co. regarding a culvert through railroad property in Joint Drainage Ditch No. 6 and 56.

Upon coming back into open session, the board approved a motion that the group’s attorney submit an application to the Iowa Supreme Court for further review on a drainage district lawsuit.

• Received a request for funding from Healthy Harvest of North Iowa. Executive Director Andrea Evelsizer highlighted some of the many programs and services the organization offers to support local food, farm outreach and education in Floyd County, and asked for a contribution of $1,500 – about 10 cents per capita for the county – to support the group.

In the last couple of years the supervisors have cut back on the groups that they provide funding to, citing budget concerns, but both Campbell and Keifer said the Healthy Harvest request sounded like it produced a lot of benefit for a small amount of money and they would try to find the funds as they work on the 2025-26 fiscal year budget.

• Continued work on the budget.