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Home My WebLink About7.a. Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment for Alternative Energy Systems�ROSEMOUNT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PLANNING COMMISSION Planning Commission Meeting Date: Tentative Planning Commission Public Hearing Date Tentative City Council Meeting Date: June 25, 2013 July 23, 2013 August 20, 2013 AGENDA ITEM: Case 13 -27 -TA AGENDA SECTION: Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment for New Business Alternative Energy Systems PREPARED BY: Jason Lindahl, AICP AGENDA NO. Planner 7.a. ATTACHMENTS: Pictures of Existing Solar Collector APPROV Y: System In Rosemount RECOMMENDED ACTION: Discuss and provide comments. SUMMARY Staff recommends updating the City's zoning standards for solar collectors. Rosemount's existing solar collector standards were last updated in 1993 and should be revised to address changing technology, establish consistent.standards, and implement the City's goals to become a more sustainable community. Updating these standards could also position Rosemount to take full advantage of Minnesota's new solar energy law which provides incentives for installing solar panels and requires major utility companies to generate a portion their electricity from solar energy. Completing this process is also consistent with the GreenSteps Cities best practice encouraging installation of renewable energy systems. Staff assumes these amendments will also be consistent with the STAR Communities program we will be starting later this year. Staff requests the Planning Commission review and comment on this information. BACKGROUND Recently, there has been renewed interest in solar energy as a result of falling prices and improving technology. Last fall more than 25 residents attended an informational workshop on solar energy hosted by the City. This past spring, the State of Minnesota passed a new solar energy law requiring major utility companies (Xcel Energy but not Dakota Electric) to produce 1.5 % of their electricity from solar by 2020. The law also included financial incentives for individuals and businesses to install solar panels and allows community solar systems where individual consumers can lease or purchase small sections of a larger solar array. Staff is currently aware of three existing solar panel systems within the City of Rosemount. Pictures of each system are attached for your reference. The residential system is located on the home of Debra White at 3441 Upper 149th Street. The other two systems are located at St. Joseph's Church and the Ames soccer complex at Dakota County Technical College. There are two types of solar energy systems: photovoltaic and thermal. Photovoltaic systems use sunlight to directly generate electricity. Solar thermal systems use sunlight to provide heat for domestic hot water or space heating. Thermal systems can be either passive or active. Passive solar thermal uses siting principles or building components like concrete or stone to absorb and store heat from the sun. Active solar thermal systems use collectors and mechanical components to supplement a building's heating needs. ISSUE ANALYSIS Legal Authority. Zoning ordinance amendments are legislative actions in that the City is creating new standards to regulate the development of certain type of structure or use. Under the law, the City has wide flexibility to create standards that will insure the type of development it desires. However, decisions made under a legislative action must still be constitutional, rational and related to protecting the health, safety and welfare of the public. The primary issue to consider when developing solar collector regulations is balancing reasonable solar access with potential negative impacts on surrounding properties. Typically, solar access is less of an issue in large lot suburban or rural areas. However, properties in developed areas with tree cover, relatively dense development patterns or tall buildings may have limited access to their solar resources. Below staff outlines potential use, attachment and performance standards to balance these concerns. Use Classification. Currently, solar collectors are listed as permitted, accessory or conditional uses in various zoning districts (see table below). A key feature of the ordinance amendment will be to create a simplified and balanced use classification system to appropriately locate solar collectors. The most common zoning practice is to limit solar collectors to accessory uses in urbanized areas. This would require the subject property to have some other principal use in a building other than the solar collector (like a dwelling unit in a residential district or a business in a commercial district). Limiting solar collectors to accessory uses within the Metropolitan Urban Service Area (MUSA) is consistent with the siting of existing systems in town and the most appropriate use classification for solar collectors in Rosemount. Solar Collector Standards Section Standard Agriculture and Residential Districts Accessory Use Downtown, C -3 and C -4 Districts Accessory Use Business Park District Conditional Use LI — Light Industrial District Permitted Use Supplementary Regulations Deviations from Setback and Height Standards In some limited situations it may be appropriate to allow solar collectors as principle uses. Allowing solar collectors as principal uses is more common in rural or industrial areas and would permit large solar farms without any other principal building. As mentioned above, Minnesota's new solar law now allows community solar systems where individual consumers can lease or purchase small sections of a larger solar array. While local governments still control zoning for these facilities, industry leader believe the new law will create a market for properties that allow solar collectors as a principal use. Another option would be to investigate allowing solar collectors as an interim use in certain areas of the community, where development is outside of the comprehensive plan time horizon. This could allow a reasonable return on the investment because it would be in a time horizon of 20 or so years, similar to some of the mines currently operating in the City. Further research should be done to assess the cost benefit of a long -term, yet interim system. 2 Staff would like feedback from the Commission regarding permitting solar collectors as a principal use or interim use outside the MUSA. Attachment Method. Solar collectors can either be roof - mounted on a building, like at St. Joseph's Church or the White residence, or ground - mounted like the system at the Ames soccer fields at DCTC. Like the use discussion above, the most common zoning practice is to require roof - mounted systems in urbanized areas while allowing either roof or ground- mounted systems in agricultural, rural or industrial areas. Staff finds this practice consistent with existing facilities and should be carried over to the new solar collector standards. Performance Standards. Each zoning district includes performance standards which regulate the siting of structures (setbacks, height, lot coverage, etc.) on a given property. Currently solar collectors are subject to the performance standards of the zoning district in which they are located but are allowed some additional height and setback encroachments under Section 11 -5 -2: Supplementary Regulations. Staff believes continuing the practice of requiring solar collectors to meet the performance standards of the district in which they are located is the best way to insure compatibility with surrounding properties. However, the revised solar collector standards should also include specific standards to address factors unique to solar collectors such as screening, roof coverage, glare, setback encroachment, and height. Additional discussion should be surrounding the permission to vary from the ordinance standards to encourage and facilitate installation of solar collectors. The ordinance should attempt to strike a balance between making solar energy more convenient for property owners, and also ensuring compatibility with surrounding land uses particularly in residential areas. Deviations. Should a property owner be unable to reasonably access their solar energy resource, they may apply for a variance as outlined in Section 11 -12 -2. According to Minnesota statute 462.357, subdivision 6, variances may be granted when an applicant establishes that there are "practical difficulties" in complying with the zoning ordinance. The statute goes on to specifically cite that "practical difficulties include, but are not limited to, inadequate access to direct sunlight for solar energy systems." CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION Recent improvements in technology and changes to state law have sparked renewed interest in solar energy systems. Rosemount's existing solar collector standards were last updated in 1993 and should be revised to address changing technology, establish consistent standards, and implement the City's goals to become a more sustainable community. This memo describes the different types of solar energy systems, the existing systems in Rosemount and outlines the issues to consider when drafting regulatory standards. Staff requests the Planning Commission review and comment on this information. Staff will use this information to create a draft ordinance for review at a future meeting. 3 f- el I TIN L I ^ 4 a« . } ° { :\ �� §\ � � .y�� :�: y: �< <2 \ ®2�