For Immediate Release: Thursday, November 19, 2020
ROCKVILLE, Md., Nov. 19, 2020—To assist the Montgomery County Council with its deliberations on ZTA 20-01, a zoning change that removes the prohibition on community solar on 1,800 of the more than 90,000 acres of land in the Agricultural Reserve, the Farm Solar Stakeholder Workgroup will meet three times in December before providing recommendations to the Council in early January 2021.
The workgroup will meet December 2, December 10, and December 16. All meetings will begin at 6:30 p.m. The meetings will be held virtually and are open to the public. The Council encourages interested members of the public to RSVP to attend the meetings by emailing Carmen Kaarid (carmen.kaarid@montgomerycountymd.gov) of Council President Katz’s office.
The workgroup meetings are part of the additional stakeholder engagement plan announced by the Council earlier this month. The Council held a town hall event on ZTA 20-01 on November 5. The town hall meeting followed an October 13 County Council worksession to review recommendations from the joint Planning, Housing and Economic Development (PHED) Committee and Transportation and Environment (T&E) Committee on ZTA 20-01. This zoning change had a public hearing on March 3, 2020 and three joint PHED and T&E Committee meetings before full Council consideration on October 13.
At the October 13 Council worksession, the Council reached a consensus on conducting additional stakeholder engagement before bringing ZTA 20-01 back to the joint PHED and T&E Committee for consideration of any additional amendments and then to the full Council for final action in January 2021.
Council staff will prepare a summary of the stakeholder meetings for the joint PHED and T&E Committee, including all amendments received by the stakeholder workgroup. The joint committee will carefully consider the record of the stakeholder meetings, and will then vote on any amendments proposed by committee members in early January 2021.
The joint PHED and T&E Committee recommendations will be sent to the full Council for final action. The Council will vote on any additional amendments that Councilmembers may propose before taking final action on ZTA 20-01 in January 2021.
Please see below for more detailed information on the Farm Solar Stakeholder Workgroup.
Farm Solar Stakeholder Workgroup
Task/Scope
Discuss any amendments to ZTA 20-01 and identify whether there are amendments that are agreeable to all participants; produce a memorandum or report by January 1, 2021 summarizing deliberations.
Membership
Randy Stabler
Doug Lechlider
Caroline Taylor
Lauren Greenberger
Doug Boucher
Al Bartlett
Leslie Elder
Frances Yuhas
Leadership
Workgroup members have selected Doug Lechlider and Leslie Elder to be Co-Chairs of the group.
Meeting Schedule
All meetings will be held virtually through Zoom. Members of the public are welcome to attend and listen, but will be asked to RSVP by email to Carmen Kaarid (Carmen.Kaarid@montgomerycountymd.gov) of Council President Katz’s office.
December 2, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
December 10, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
December 16, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Documents for Deliberations
Stakeholder workgroup documents will be posted to a Google Drive folder accessible to the public. Please see the Google Drive here.
Public Comments
Members of the public are encouraged to provide recommended amendments and any supporting analysis for the workgroup to review by emailing County Council staff member Jeffrey Zyontz at Jeffrey.Zyontz@montgomerycountymd.gov. Comments received by Mr. Zyontz will also be shared with the Joint Committee in the background memorandum for the meeting.
Staff contacts
County Council staff: Jeffrey Zyontz, Jeffrey.Zyontz@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember Riemer’s office: Tommy Heyboer, Tommy.Heyboer@montgomerycountymd.gov
Council President Katz’s office: Laurie Edberg, Laurie.Edberg@montgomerycountymd.gov
Council President Katz’s office (for scheduling issues): Carmen Kaarid, Carmen.Kaarid@montgomerycountymd.gov