City Council Work Session

CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 6:30 PM Baxter City Hall, 13190 Memorywood Drive, Baxter, MN “A Growing Community” CALL TO ORDER Mayor Olson called the work session to order at 6:30 p.m. ROLL CALL Mayor Darrel Olson and Council Members Connie Lyscio, Zach Tabatt, Jeff Phillips, and Mark Cross were present. City Administrator Brad Chapulis, Assistant City Administrator Kelly Steele, Public Works Director Trevor Walter, Community Development Director Josh Doty, and Police Chief Jim Exsted were present. BUSINESS ITEMS 1. Solar Ordinance Discussion Community Development Director Doty explained the current city regulations related to solar, explained how staff has approached solar, and outlined options for potential city code changes. The city has historically approved all personal solar requests, such as rooftop applications for single family homes, townhomes, the Northland Arboretum, and the Foss commercial development. These solar applications were approved with a building or electrical permit. Staff has viewed rooftop solar applications as architectural materials as they have little to no visual impact on neighboring properties. Staff has approved one ground mounted solar panel for a single-family home which was mounted on a post and placed on the side yard. The property owner was willing to work with the city on a location that provided screening so that the solar panel would not impact neighboring properties, staff viewed the solar panel as an accessory structure, and it was approved with a building permit. Staff is proposing either a baseline approach or a comprehensive energy ordinance. The baseline approach would require city code amendments that clearly identify roof mounted solar applications as a permitted accessory use in all districts. Individual ground mounted solar applications in single family districts, or for other districts with standards developed for height, screening, reflectivity, etc. Staff is comfortable recommending approval of the solar array use as a conditional use in the public benefit zoning district with the conditions listed in the adopted ordinance. Staff would express the need for ordinance standards if ground solar arrays are allowed in other zoning districts than in the public benefit district. Staff could also prepare baseline standards from e-charging stations, geothermal, and porous pavement. An alternative to the baseline approach, staff could develop a comprehensive energy ordinance. This ordinance would be a comprehensive ordinance for all items related to clean energy. Items covered in the ordinance would be solar, solar thermal, geothermal, wind energy, e-charging, and porous surfacing. Staff would prefer to seek consulting assistance to develop this type of ordinance. 3/21/2023 City Council Work Session Minutes Page 2 The consensus from the council is to move forward with the proposed baseline approach. This baseline approach would allow roof top solar, geothermal, solar thermal, e-charging, porous surfacing, and single family ground mounted solar. ADJOURN MOTION by Council Member Cross, seconded by Council Member Lyscio to adjourn at 6:58 p.m. Motion unanimously carried. Approved by: Respectfully submitted, _____________________________ Darrel Olson Kelly Steele Mayor Assistant City Administrator