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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024.05.06 RESO 2024-18 Denying Solar Farm on Everton RESOLUTION 2024-18 APPROVING FINDINGS OF FACT DENYING A SITE PLAN AND INTERIM USE PERMIT FOR A SOLAR FARM ON PROPERTY LOCATED EAST OF EVERTON AVENUE NORTH AND NORTH OF 149TH STREET NORTH WHEREAS, EESolar13, LLC. has requested approval of a Site Plan and Interim Use Permit (IUP)to allow for a solar farm on the property legally described as follows: See Attached WHEREAS,the Planning Commission has reviewed the application at a duly called public hearing and recommended approval, and; WHEREAS,based on all of the proceedings and hearings herein,the City Council finds as follows; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF HUGO, MINNESOTA, that it should and hereby does deny the request by EESolarl3, LLC, for an interim use permit to allow for a solar farm, based on the following findings: 1. The solar farm consists of the following structures and equipment: A solar array made of silicon-based solar panels connected to steel I-beams which are embedded into the ground a minimum of nine feet in depth, a galvanized chain-link fence with posts embedded in concrete, a 200 square foot equipment pad with an electrical transformer, equipment rack, and utility meters, and a 4,400 square foot gravel access driveway. The solar panel array encompasses 5 acres of the 12-acre parcel. 2. The lot area upon which the solar farm is proposed is a narrow lot of agricultural property that has been zoned Agricultural (AG). The area was incorporated in to the MUSA in the comprehensive plan written in 1998, and later removed from the MUSA in a 2006 Comprehensive Plan Amendment because of a stated desire of the city council and residents to preserve the area as large lot residential with the uses typical of such areas including light agricultural characteristics such as animal husbandry and small garden plots. It is not an agricultural area that is surrounded, by and large,by other large-scale residential parcels or forestry uses as may be the case in connection with properties in other, non-isolated agricultural districts. The neighborhood, thus, includes not just agricultural parcels (albeit smaller ones)but also extensive residential development, especially to its immediate east and north. 3. The specific parcel proposed for the solar farm is unique in that it was specifically reserved, along with a handful of others to remain an agricultural enclave surrounded, however,by more urbanized, and denser development. Thus, although it is zoned agricultural and outside of the MUSA it is immediately adjacent to high density residential development and more urbanized parcels than would be the case if it was contiguous to multiple agricultural parcels as is typical elsewhere in the City. 4. This neighborhood is also the only area of the city that is zoned AG but has the land use designation in the current Comprehensive Plan of Large Lot Residential (LL). The lot development is consistent with large lot residential. Resolution 2024-18 Page 2 5. The parcel which would receive the solar has high to medium density residential units immediately abutting it to its east. In fact, the density of those residences is approximately 4.5 units per acre and they are within the Water's Edge South Planned Unit Development, which has an underlying zoning of Low Density Multiple Family Residential (R-4). The parcel would be visible from approximately 64 townhomes. These structures are 2.5-3 stories high and will have direct exposure to the solar farm apparatus. To its north lies a large residential lot with open field which abuts more multifamily and single-family housing. 6. The City has fashioned its ordinance to allow, with discretion, solar farms in agricultural areas so that their visibility from neighboring structures is limited and their visual impacts can be minimized through by distance, screening and limited population impact. As agricultural parcels in the City appear, this one is the one most surrounded by residential and urban uses which have not been chosen for receipt of solar farms over the preference, instead, to isolate them. 7. While the neighborhood does include agriculturally zoned properties they have a guided land use of large lot residential and the site is adjacent to parcels with a guided land use of medium density residential. 8. The solar farm is not compatible with the present character of the surrounding area. There is an unusual concentration of homes in the area which would expose the facility to more viewsheds than what is typical in the Agricultural (AG) zoning district. This neighborhood is the smallest contiguous area of agriculturally zoned property within the City, and the parcel is unique in its proximity to high density residential properties and associated sightlines. The concentration of homes and high frequency of sightlines oriented in the direction of the facility make it more conspicuous than would be the case in a purely agricultural district where homes are distant and land buffers larger. 9. The City Council concludes that the introduction of a solar farm of this size, in this configuration and on this lot would negatively alter the essential character of the neighborhood by, without limitation, introducing solar arrays and related equipment adjacent to high density housing, by placing it on large lot residential uses which are a lesser agricultural use than is seen on large AG parcels,by introducing an exclusively nonresidential structure into an area surrounded by residential structure and by rendering it conspicuously visible from the homes and land area to the east. 10. There is no comparable use in this area that would allow the use to be said to be compatible with the structures and development patterns of the area which now exist. Given the configuration and height of the homes to the east, there is little that can be done to completely screen the solar arrays. This is also a result of the orientation of the lots in this neighborhood (ie; horizontally oriented and narrow rather than square and wide). Resolution 2024-18 Page 3 ADOPTED by the City Council this 6`h day of May, 2024. tom Weidt, Mayor ATTEST: Michele Lindau, City Clerk Legal Description That part of the Southwest Quarter of the Southeast Quarter of Section 18, Township 31 North, Range 21 West, Washington County, Minnesota, lying North of the South 583.5 feet. EXCEPT the 50-foot right of way of the St. Croix Falls Minnesota Improvement Company filed in Book 57 of Deeds,page 549. AND EXCEPT the North 334 feet of the South 917.5 feet of the Southwest Quarter of the Southeast Quarter of Section 18, Township 31 North, Range 21 West.