{"id":22776,"date":"2025-04-09T17:00:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T17:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-county-commissioners-put-six-month-moratorium-on-solar\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:16:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:16:23","slug":"montezuma-county-commissioners-put-six-month-moratorium-on-solar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-county-commissioners-put-six-month-moratorium-on-solar\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma County commissioners put six-month moratorium on solar"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A 30MW solar farm near Alamosa in the San Luis Valley. (Whetstone Energy, via The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners unanimously agreed to place a six-month moratorium, or ban, on large scale solar developments in the county at their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday morning, April 8.<\/p>\n

It did not, however, bar existing applications from moving forward in that motion, so JUWI Inc.\u2019s proposed 140-megawatt Canyonland Solar Project <\/a>will move through the application process normally.<\/p>\n

That project will go before Planning and Zoning at its meeting in May.<\/p>\n

Before the commissioners voted on the moratorium that morning, they held a public hearing, and nearly 20 community members spoke.<\/p>\n

County Attorney Stephen Tarnowski started by giving some background.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis discussion today is really about the application of the land use code, potential changes to the land use code, the pause that\u2019s being considered in accepting new applications for utility-scale solar development and\/or processing the pending application, of which there is the one,\u201d said Tarnowski.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the place to discuss the exact particulars of that application,\u201d he said, referring to the Canyonland Solar Project. \u201cThis is the time to talk about the idea of a moratorium, which is a temporary legislation, essentially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Jim Candeleria said they\u2019re considering the moratorium \u201cjust to pause, to make sure we have better language in land use code.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it stands, there\u2019s \u201cnothing specific\u201d to solar in the county code, said Planning and Zoning Director Don Haley.<\/p>\n

In fact, according to a 2024 report<\/a> from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Montezuma County is one of eight in the state with \u201cno relevant definitions present\u201d for solar in its land use code.<\/p>\n

Candelaria said they\u2019ve already been looking at other counties, namely Mesa County, which adopted new language in its code last year concerning such utility-scale renewable energy development.<\/p>\n

In January 2024, Mesa County placed a six-month moratorium on solar; after four months, it was lifted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unanimous adoption of the new code is a victory for all stakeholders involved. It promises to kickstart numerous local solar projects,\u201d a May 19 article<\/a> in The Daily Sentinel<\/em> reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs these projects take shape, they will not only bolster our local economy but also contribute significantly to environmental conservation \u2014 a win-win for all of Mesa County,\u201d the article reads.<\/p>\n

At the meeting, Candelaria said that Mesa County\u2019s edits and additions \u201caddresses all of our concerns,\u201d specifically in regards to solar on ag land and the decommissioning process, a concern Commissioner Gerald Koppenhafer echoed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to have three commissioners sitting up here 30 years from now \u2013 surely they wouldn\u2019t cuss us,\u201d said Koppenhafer, causing some people in the audience to laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to get it right,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to do away with people\u2019s property rights or anything else, we just want to do it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot to learn,\u201d Commissioner Kent Lindsay said.<\/p>\n

And with that, public comment opened.<\/p>\n

All those who spoke agreed with the temporary moratorium.<\/p>\n

As one speaker put it, \u201cNo matter your opinion on solar, we need standards to protect our beautiful county.\u201d<\/p>\n

One person said they thought the moratorium should be longer than six months, while others urged the commissioners to keep it short and have pointed goals to streamline the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpportunity does not often knock twice,\u201d and lengthy delays may cause the county to miss out on possible tax revenue and jobs, among other benefits, that solar could bring.<\/p>\n

The one-and-only proposed project, Canyonland Solar, said it \u201cwill increase the county\u2019s property tax base by nearly $260,000 annually for 35 years, totaling $8.4 million in aggregate over the project life,\u201d according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A little more than half that revenue would benefit schools, and the 140 megawatts it could generate is enough to power \u201c30,000 average Colorado homes,\u201d its website said.<\/p>\n\n

Speakers on Monday also urged the commissioners to make it so no solar could be developed within a certain radius of national monuments and national and state parks, and to try and minimize impacts to native vegetation and wildlife.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be thorough, and not just look at the now,\u201d one person said. \u201cWe need to know how this will impact us in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Kimmett, the manager of planning at JUWI Inc., attended the meeting and spoke.<\/p>\n

Kimmett asked the commissioners to not shoot down existing applications, like JUWI Inc.\u2019s Canyonland Solar Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been through this process with Montezuma County for quite some time,\u201d said Kimmet.<\/p>\n

He said the project\u2019s application has been five years in the making, and called the county\u2019s existing land use code \u201crobust.\u201d<\/p>\n

It gives \u201ca profound level of scrutiny\u201d to the Planning and Zoning and the board of county commissioners, he said, \u201cbut moratoria are allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another speaker condemned the board for waiting until an application was submitted to consider a moratorium and to edit the county land use code.<\/p>\n

\u201cRejecting a permit that was developed over the course of years is not only irresponsible, it\u2019s unjust,\u201d that speaker said. \u201cYou have already failed to be proactive in your decision-making, but you can still do what\u2019s best for Montezuma County.\u201d<\/p>\n

When public comment wrapped up, in response to that comment, Commissioner Lindsay said, \u201cWe can\u2019t do due diligence on rumor, myth and gossip. We have to have hard facts in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koppenhafer reiterated what he had said before public comment and spoke in favor of the moratorium \u201cto make sure this county is protected into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Candelaria called the moratorium \u201cfuture-looking,\u201d and re-emphasized the board\u2019s desire \u201cto do the best we can for the future of this county.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo take a pause right now doesn\u2019t hurt, it just gives us more time to do homework,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018To take a pause right now doesn\u2019t hurt, it just gives us more time to do homework,\u2019 commissioner says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77848,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22776\/revisions\/77848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22776"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}