APC recommends BESS moratorium extension, holds public hearing on text amendments

The Pulaski County Advisory Plan Commission (APC) agreed to recommend that the Battery Energy Storage  System (BESS) moratorium be extended for another six months during a special meeting on Friday evening, March 20. The request for an extension comes after some initial back and forth between the APC and the commissioners on whether the first moratorium should be six months or 12 months. The APC had first requested the moratorium be 12 months, but the commissioners countered with six months. The APC ultimately approved the six month recommendation in September. Pulaski County Building Inspector and Plan Administrator Karla Redweik advised the APC during the meeting on March 20 that the BESS moratorium would be expiring in April. Redweik said that within that time, the board has reviewed some of the language regarding BESS, but they are nowhere near being completed with their review. She requested that they consider having her go to the commissioners to request an additional six months. The recommendation passed, with Mike McClure opposing. The APC then moved on to hearing the proposed text amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) in Section 2.3.R., Applications for All Solar Energy Systems and Section 7, Wind Energy Convergence and Solar Energy Systems. The public hearing was opened, with Redweik touching on each proposed adjustment before hearing comments from the public. The last time these amendments were considered in a public meeting was Sept. 11. Two of the most prominent items that the board discussed was potentially changing commercial solar development from a permitted use back to a special exception and possibly putting a cap on solar development at 8% of the county's total tillable acreage.