{"id":2451061,"date":"2019-11-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=316026"},"modified":"2019-11-14T07:27:39","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T14:27:39","slug":"pitkin-county-board-approves-solar-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/pitkin-county-board-approves-solar-farm\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitkin County board approves solar farm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Community members listen to a presentation about a project application for a solar farm during the Pitkin County Commissioners meeting in Aspen on Wednesday, November 13, 2019. The potential project would be a 35-acre solar farm containing 18,000 panels on land between Aspen and Woody Creek. Community members signed up to give public comment to express their feelings about the project after the slated speakers. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong>
Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Pitkin County commissioners Wednesday unanimously approved construction of a controversial, 35-acre solar farm between Aspen and Woody Creek.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t turn around climate change soon \u2026 millions of plants and animals will go extinct on Earth,\u201d Commissioner Steve Child said. \u201cIf we lose snow and skiing, it\u2019s game over for this valley at that point as far as I can see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Patti Clapper choked up as she spoke of her children and grandchildren before the board voted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been listening to the concerns of the community and I take that to heart,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I have to look at the bigger picture and Pitkin County\u2019s next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryan Hannegan, president and CEO of Holy Cross Energy and one of the partners in the solar farm project, praised the county board\u2019s decision afterward<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d he said. \u201cThis community is very interested in climate action. We look forward to making it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s approval came after about six hours, when commissioners heard about the solar farm from community development staff, members of the applicant team and members of the public. The application was previously approved by both staff planners and the Pitkin County Planning and Zoning Commission, which voted 4-1 to recommend it after two lengthy, well-attended meetings in July and August.<\/p>\n

Opposition to the 18,000-panel project, which will be located between McLain Flats Road and the Roaring Fork River, came from residents of Woody Creek, the W\/J Ranch housing development and Brush Creek Village, who mainly objected to the solar panels\u2019 visual impacts. Valley residents who wanted clean energy supported the project, frequently with dire warnings about the coming effects of climate change.<\/p>\n

In the end, the unanimous vote reflected commissioners\u2019 frequently voiced commitment to curbing greenhouse gases and taking action against climate change.<\/p>\n

The board declared a climate emergency last month at the prompting of local students, is in the process of revamping building codes with an eye toward greener construction countywide, and adopted a Climate Action Plan in 2012 that guides many of the board\u2019s decisions and actions. In addition, one of the board\u2019s recent crowning achievements is the \u201cnet-zero\u201d Basalt Vista affordable-housing project in Basalt, which uses as much electricity as it produces thanks to solar panels and specially built heating and cooling systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t rely on the federal government to fix this problem,\u201d said Commissioner George Newman, noting the Trump administration\u2019s rollback of rules governing clean air, clean water, coal power plants and auto emissions. \u201cWe have to rely on states, counties and businesses to solve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two commissioners disclosed their longstanding commitment to fighting climate change before Wednesday\u2019s special meeting even got underway.<\/p>\n

Board Chairman Greg Poschman called himself \u201can advocate for the climate\u201d and said he\u2019d studied solar technology in the \u201980s and installed solar panels on the roof of his home two years ago. He also noted that he lives in Brush Creek Village and will look directly at the solar farm.<\/p>\n

In a lengthy statement he read as the meeting began, Commissioner Steve Child said he actually identified the Aspen Sanitation District site as an ideal location for a solar farm in about 2013 or 2014 after he was elected commissioner. He said he thought the county might be interested in building a solar farm, but couldn\u2019t drum up any interest from city or county officials.<\/p>\n

Child also said he\u2019d studied using wind, water and solar power on ranches he owns in Snowmass and near Denver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a longtime advocate of combating climate change,\u201d Child said. \u201cI believe it\u2019s an existentialist threat to the survival of humans and animals on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The disclosure prompted condemnation from some attendees in the crowded meeting room who said Child should recuse himself from the solar farm discussions. Child later said he\u2019d consulted the county attorney about recusal, though he remained part of the board\u2019s decision Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Joseph Sloves, who declined to say where he lives, stood up and objected to Child\u2019s lengthy opening disclosure statement. He attempted to argue with Poschman and other board members, who said public comment would come later in the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t sit down, we will have you removed,\u201d Newman said to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cTry me,\u201d Sloves said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t tempt me,\u201d Newman shot back.<\/p>\n

The solar farm will be a joint project among Holy Cross Energy, the Aspen Sanitation District and Renewable Energy Systems, an international green-energy company with offices in Broomfield.<\/p>\n

The Sanitation District will lease to RES 35 of the 55 acres it owns southeast of the intersection of Brush Creek Road and Highway 82 to install the 18,000 solar panels that will track the sun each day from east to west. The district previously used the site for 30 years to dispose of treated wastewater under an Environmental Protection Agency permit, said Bruce Matherly, sanitation district manager.<\/p>\n

That former industrial use coupled with the fact that the site is under the flight path for Aspen\u2019s airport, has year-round solar exposure and is within half-a-mile of Holy Cross transmission lines made it an ideal spot for the solar farm, according to supporters of the project.<\/p>\n

The farm is expected to generate 5 megawatts of power, which would be transferred to the transmission lines via an underground connector line Holy Cross will build. That amount of electricity would power about 900 homes, Hannegan said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Sanitation District spends about $280,000 a year on electricity to treat wastewater, Matherly said. In exchange for providing the land, the district will receive lease payments and a 33% energy credit from Holy Cross that will grow in future years and save customers money, he said.<\/p>\n

RES estimates that the facility will cost between $6.2 million and $7.2 million to build, said Conor Goodson, RES spokesman. The company is currently in talks with investors to provide that financing, he said. RES officials have said it would take about six months to construct.<\/p>\n

Hannegan said he thinks the project probably won\u2019t break ground until spring and that it will likely be up and running possibly by early fall 2020. The project will help Holy Cross, which will have an option to buy the solar farm in 10 years, achieve its goal of making 70% of the power it provides come from renewable energy by 2030.<\/p>\n

The idea for the project came from the communities served by Holy Cross, who voiced a desire for clean energy, Hannegan said. In fact, 69% of Holy Cross customers said they\u2019d support a community-based solar project.<\/p>\n

The utility studied about 20 different projects and the solar farm approved Wednesday was \u201cby far the best,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As happened in the Planning and Zoning meetings on the solar farm application this summer, those who opposed the project denounced it as an affront to cherished views, though many also volunteered support for renewable energy.<\/p>\n

Sloves said the solar farm will mar the Entrance to Aspen and asked commissioners to put the issue to a vote. Alan Altman called the project a \u201cfiasco,\u201d accused Holy Cross of spreading \u201cmisinformation\u201d and chastised Child for not recusing himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hypocrisy of this \u2026 has made this process somewhat of a sham,\u201d Altman said.<\/p>\n

Supporters included Chris Davenport, an accomplished big-mountain skier, environmental activist and valley resident, who said the solar farm site is \u201cbeing served on a silver platter\u201d and that commissioners risked looking like hypocrites in light of their climate pronouncements if they denied the project.<\/p>\n

Oliver Fox-Rubin, 10, of Basalt told commissioners she wanted to speak to those who think the solar farm \u201cis an eyesore.\u201d Climate change is \u201can existential threat,\u201d she said, and that if she had to choose between wildfires like Lake Christine last summer and solar panels, she\u2019d choose the panels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to act and we need to act now,\u201d Fox-Rubin said. \u201cThe solar farm is \u2026 important to our very existence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interestingly, a point made by Altman and another opponent of the project, Jerry Scheinbaum, about hiding the solar farm behind landscaping and berms later helped commissioners decide how to solve that issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy shade them with landscaping and berms?\u201d Scheinbaum said. \u201cLet everybody see this. If you celebrate solar, let us see what you\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

County planners had been talking about applying for a variance to increase the berm height beyond the 4 feet now allowed to better block views of the farm from the Rio Grande Trail. But Child reminded his colleagues that making the solar farm visible shows Pitkin County\u2019s commitment to renewable energy and the progressive thinking behind it, and that they should be proud of people seeing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI agree we shouldn\u2019t shield the solar farm from the Rio Grande Trail,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t need to hide it from the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newman agreed, and the board decided that berms shielding the project from the trail won\u2019t be more than 4 feet tall.<\/p>\n

jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Community members listen to a presentation about a project application for a solar farm during the Pitkin County Commissioners meeting in Aspen on Wednesday, November 13, 2019. The potential project would be a 35-acre solar farm containing 18,000 panels on land between Aspen and Woody Creek. Community members signed up to give public comment to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2451061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 06:29:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2451061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2451083,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451061\/revisions\/2451083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2451061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2451061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2451061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}