GARNETT — Anderson County commissioners have established new regulations governing the placement of solar farms.
The regulations were approved after a two-year moratorium on all industrial solar projects, the Anderson County Review reported.
Under the new regulations, commercial solar projects of up to 160 acres are allowed only through a special use permit in agricultural and industrial zoning districts, the newspaper reported. Utility scale projects exceeding 160 acres are restricted to industrial zoning districts and also require a special use permit.
Additionally, the county has capped the total amount of land for solar projects at 4,000 acres countywide.
The regulations affect only ground-mounted systems, the Review noted. Roof-top solar installations are still allowed.
At their Dec. 30 meeting, commissioners also tabled an application for a Dogecoin mining facility southwest of Garnett.
Dogecoin mining is essentially a large computer setup for Dogecoin, a type of cryptocurrency.
The request came from Milton Yoder for operation on land owned by his father, Avin Yoder of Welda, the newspaper reported. The application had cleared the county zoning board, but commissioners said they wanted to gather more information on such projects.
“This is the first one we’ve run into, but it’s probably not the last,” Commissioner Les McGhee said, according to the newspaper. “I hate to stand in anybody’s way, but I don’t know where we’re going with this.”
