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The Boulder County Planning Commission Wednesday approved a Denver-based company’s plan to build a 24-acre solar farm on agricultural land on north 79th Street between Boulder and Longmont.
The commission unanimously approved issuing a recommendation to the Boulder County Commissioners to green light Pivot Energy Inc., plans for the site. The planning panel made its decision after hearing from a company official who said the solar farm will make a minimal impact in the area.
The solar panels will be mounted on poles raised eight feet above the ground. The operation will generate little dirt or light pollution and draw about 4-8 vehicle trips a year from maintenance personnel, said Kyle Sundman, director of project development for Pivot.
The arrays will be well away from local homes and the company will use goats throughout the year to keep native grass under control, Sundman said. The solar garden also will be part of Xcel Energy’s Solar Reward Program and all the generated energy will be donated to low-income Coloradans, Sundman told the commissioners.
“We believe this project helps with social equity in Boulder County,” Sundman told the commissioners. “We are donating to help low-income Coloradans.”
The commissioners agreed to tack on 18 conditions Pivot Energy must meet to allow the project to move forward, including using a fence to keep prairie dogs off the property and a plan to mitigate the impacts of the burrowing owl habitat to the south of the property.
Pivot Energy also must work with an adjacent landowner who complained during a Wednesday public hearing about the solar garden’s towering presence in the area.
“We should move this as far away as possible from the neighbors,” Commission member Ann Goldfarb said. “I would like to see everything done possible for the neighbors in regard to screening. Whatever can be done.”
William Fox, who lives on 79th Street, told the commissioners an “industrial sized solar plant” should not be placed in the Gunbarrel area. “We will have a sea of black solar panels in the future,” Fox told the commissioners.
Fox said the glare from the panels will be distracting while heat from the solar panel’s will contribute to wildfires. The panels also will mar the natural beauty of the area, including the hill people drive over to get to Gunbarrel, he said.
“Gunbarrel Hill has the most amazing views in Boulder County,” Fox said. “People have rerouted their commute just for the view.”
Others who spoke during the public hearing, that the benefits of the solar farm far outweigh the drawbacks.
Charles Rodgers, who is leasing his farm land to Pivot Energy, said he farmed his last viable wheat crop on the acreage in 2014. Two weeks ago, the land produced a dismal amount of wheat “that’s not even enough to pay for fuel to cut the wheat,” Rodgers said.
The land should be used to help others, Rodgers said.”It seems like a good option to put this land to a good use,” he said.
“This will benefit the low-income,” added resident Kevin Schnieder. “This land doesn’t produce much of anything as far as cropland. It could minimally support a couple of cows.”
