by Jackie Nunnery
LANCASTER—The Lancaster planning commission on Thursday, October 16, voted 6-1 to hold another public hearing in November on the small-scale solar ordinance after proposing an additional change requiring a special exception for ground-mounted panels. Roof-mounted panels would remain by-right.
Commission member David Chupp objected to the added burden of a special exception, noting that setbacks had been increased to 25 feet to address potential objections by neighbors.
Special exception requests are “expensive and time consuming for the applicant” and would “deter a lot of people from making their own electricity,” said Chupp. Many who choose ground-mounted installations “are doing so not because they prefer that route, but their roofs just don’t face the right direction, so they have….
