Sartell Planning Commission Recommends Moratorium on Solar Garden Developments

(KNSI) — The Sartell Planning Commission is recommending a six-month moratorium on solar garden developments.

City administrator Anna Gruber called the recommendation a planned pause. “It’s just to take a step back and make sure that our ordinance is up to date, and that it’s thorough, and that it’s calling out the appropriate zoning districts for solar.”

City staff will spend the next few months amending its ordinance for the first time in years. “It’s really intended to be an opportunity for the planning commission, staff and the city council to take a step back and make sure that we’ve thought through that ordinance. We haven’t looked at that ordinance since 2016.”

The city is looking to regulate gardens that are one megawatt or larger. Solar farms of varying sizes are currently allowed in each zone, including residential.

The board unanimously approved sending the proposal to the city council after developers started working on three solar gardens. If the council adopts it, it’s lights out for all three projects.

Enterprise Energy is involved with two of them. Owner Evan Carlson is disappointed by the decision. “Unfortunately, as a small businessman, a moratorium like this can be devastating. I’ve done the thing that a responsible developer does.”

He started the company in 2022, and it is a one-man operation. Carlson says he wishes the city would have told him about this before getting so far into the planning stages. “If there is going to be a moratorium, things should have happened earlier on. I’ve got a lot of skin in the game at this point. And this hurts.”

The city council will look at the moratorium at Monday’s meeting.

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