Elbert County weighs draft solar, wind and battery-storage zoning rules
A proposal headed for an Aug. 18 Planning Commission hearing would separate energy uses and set new setbacks for battery-storage facilities; no BOCC hearing date has been set.
Elbert County planning staff are scheduled to present draft zoning regulations for solar, wind and battery-energy-storage facilities at a public hearing Aug. 18 before the county’s General Planning Commission. The proposal has not been adopted, and no record shows final action by the commission or Board of County Commissioners.
The hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the BOCC Hearing Room, 215 Comanche St. in Kiowa.
The planning staff memo says the draft would revise the county’s land-use table to distinguish solar, wind and battery-energy-storage-system facilities, or BESS. Solar and wind farms could be designated as operating with or without associated BESS facilities, with changes to the zoning districts where those uses may be allowed.
The proposed standards include:
- Solar panels would be set back 500 feet from residences, occupied nonresidential structures and public roads; 350 feet from private roads; and 50 feet from nonoccupied structures such as barns or sheds.
- BESS units generally would be set back 1,000 feet from residences, occupied structures and public and private roads, and 350 feet from nonoccupied structures.
- BESS units would have to be located inside a project site rather than at its perimeter, spaced at least 10 feet apart and surrounded by a defensible-space buffer at least 50 feet wide.
Similar BESS standards are proposed for wind farms. The draft does not specify a setback for wind turbines themselves. It would also exclude household battery systems designed and operated for a single residence from the proposed BESS definition.
BOCC review would follow newspaper notice
The memo says the regulations will be noticed in a newspaper before consideration by the BOCC, as required by county zoning regulations. Planning and legal staff have held work sessions with the BOCC, but the supplied records do not provide a BOCC hearing or consideration date.
For a typical county zoning-regulation amendment, Colorado law requires a BOCC public hearing and at least 14 days’ notice of the time and place through publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county. Elbert County’s notices page identifies the Elbert County News as the county’s official newspaper of record, effective Jan. 14, 2026.
The Aug. 18 Planning Commission hearing is scheduled, not completed, as of Aug. 14.
Potentially relevant projects
The available records do not say which projects would be subject to the proposed standards or whether the rules would apply retroactively or to projects with existing permits.
A county calendar entry for Buffalo Grass Solar describes a utility-scale solar project with 398 megawatts of generation capacity and a 200-megawatt battery-storage system. The entry describes a July 22 community meeting but does not establish that the project has been approved or constructed.
The county’s recorded-resolutions index lists Resolution 25-16 for the Sundance Solar Major 1041 Permit and Resolution 25-17 for the Sundance Solar Special Use by Review. The index does not provide the project’s capacity, identify a BESS component or establish its construction status.
Whether Buffalo Grass Solar, Sundance Solar or another project would need to meet the proposed setbacks would depend on the final regulations and permit-specific rules, including provisions governing pending applications, vested rights or existing approvals.