OREGON — At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Ogle County Board voted to rescind its previous commercial solar and wind energy facilities siting and operating ordinances and to replace them with new ordinances to meet a recent state senate bill (SB 1699) that included trailer bill language for the renewable energy project siting bill.
House Bill 4412 came into play near the start of 2023, and removed local control such as at the county level on whether or not wind and solar projects could be built. Back in early 2019, the Ogle County Board approved a solar resolution providing conditions for a special use permit for solar farms. That resolution was repealed in May to meet HB 4412 requirements.
Back in January, the board unanimously passed a resolution opposing HB 4412, due to its desire to keep local control. At its February meeting, the board heard comments from multiple county residents that were against more wind and solar power in the county, especially on a large scale near homes and farms. The Ogle County Board established an ad-hoc committee to work on the solar and wind issue to meet state statutes. Their work included establishing the county's first wind ordinance.
The board voted 22-2 on Tuesday in favor of the new wind siting and operation ordinance, and 19-5 in favor of the new solar siting and operating ordinance.
Fee schedule
The board approved a new fee schedule for its planning and zoning department by a vote of 17-7 during the meeting.
The Ogle County graduated commercial fee structure for new business projects and developments is now a five percent fee on the commercial value of commercial industrial-classified projects (capped at $250,000 maximum fee per project). Commercial industrial is defined as "industrial chemical, energy or batch processes requiring specialty/heightened inspections and oversight as well as ensuring regulatory requirements, safety inspections, and environmental monitoring requirements met to ensure compliance during operation life as well as meeting end of life requirements of facility/business."
For commercial heavy/corporate, the fee is now three percent on the commercial value of the project (capped at $150,000 maximum fee per project). Commercial heavy/corporate is defined as "new major corporate business exceeding $4 million in commercial value with large traffic/large volume impacts for the county."
For the commercial medium category, no changes were made. The fee is .5 percent on the commercial value of a project. Commercial medium is defined as "county local or existing county business exceeding $2 million in commercial value with medium-scale traffic/volume impacts for the county."
For the commercial light category, no changes were made. The minimum fee is $500 or .25 percent on everything over $200,000 in commercial value. Commercial light is defined as "Ogle County resident and small commercial or local business and less than $2 million in commercial value."
Board Vice Chairwoman Pat Nordman (R, District 2, Oregon) said the smaller two categories did not change due to them encompassing the bulk of the businesses in the county.
"I feel that this is in the best interest of the majority of the people in the county to have something in writing so the cost doesn't get passed along," Board Member John "Skip" Kenney (R, District 4, Rochelle) said.
ARPA
The board unanimously approved the use of federal American Rescue Plan Act Funds for three uses: Training for its zoning department ($250), three years of maintenance expenses for its buildings & grounds department ($40,398) and parking lot work ($1,039).
Road & bridge
The board unanimously approved road & bridge appropriations for the coming year including $1.707 million in motor fuel tax funds for county roadway maintenance and $74,841 of motor fuel tax funds for its half of the county engineer's salary. The other half will be paid by federal funds for 2024.
