Mo-Co Alliance
  • Home
  • About Us
    • What We Do
    • A Brief History
    • Board & AC
    • Staff & Volunteers
    • Contact
    • Buy MCA Gear
  • About Ag Reserve
    • Growing Legacy Film
    • History of the Ag Reserve
    • Benefits of the Ag Reserve
    • Agriculture Education
    • Farm Facts
    • Threats to the Ag Reserve
    • A Place with Purpose
  • News
  • Events
    • Local Events
    • Royce Hanson Award
    • Ride for Reserve
  • Support Local
    • Agricultural Guide
    • Local Food Connection
    • Good Fences Grant
    • Community Supported Agriculture
    • Restaurants & Retail
    • Artists of the Reserve
  • Community Resources
    • Land Link >
      • Labor Link
    • Re-leaf the Reserve
    • PLENTY Magazine
    • Producer's Resources
    • BIPOC Farmer Guide
    • Directory of Local Services
    • Friends of Ten Mile Creek
  • Membership
    • Sponsors and Partners

News

Commercial Scale Solar ZTA Headed to Council - Still Lacking Basic Farm/Forest Protections

7/23/2020

 
Summary: ZTA 20-01 is a proposal to allow 3 square miles of commercial scale solar on farmland in the Ag Reserve. The ZTA was voted out of committee on 7/22 without meaningful protections for forests, water quality or productive soils in the only area of the county set aside for farming. The report of the county's own climate change working group needs to chart the way forward - a report that suggests taking farmland out of production for solar is not the way to achieve carbon cutting goals. This ZTA will be taken up by the Council in September, stay tuned. 

On 7/22 the T+E and PHED joint committees met for a third time to discuss ZTA 20-01. Of interest in this hearing were discussions on soils, forests and slopes. 

Soils:  In the previous hearing, the committee members discussed soil classifications 1-3 being productive soils. At MCA we thought that discussion was missing something and created this table to shows that many farms in the Reserve are growing bountiful table crops on zones 2 and 3.  Councilmember Glass must have been unclear on our aim and mentioned our table as his vote made a majority to protect just class 1 soils (the red spots below, mostly river banks that are not farmable under water conservation measures.)
Picture

Only the productive soils in red were protected by the committee.

Soils Classes 1,2 and 3 are all considered productive soils. A vote to allow solar on these soils is a vote to allow a large scale commercial and industrial use on productive farmland in the only part of the county that is protected for farming.  
Councilmember Friedson made a motion to protect soil classes 1 and 2 (red and orange and in the map above, class 3 is peach- green is higher than 3) but did not have the votes though Councilmember Jawando joined him to protect slightly less land under a different definition of prime soils. Councilmembers Friedson addressed key points on the consequences not just for soils but also economics in the Ag Reserve. Friedson urged caution and seemed to understand the Reserve's purpose - when Councilmember Riemer said "the Ag Reserve was not meant to last forever, it can change." Friedson retorted that indeed it was supposed to last forever. MCA for our part is helping the Reserve get the next generation of farming growing, the Reserve does need to change but in a way that grows more farmers and more food under the purpose it was established for - Agriculture. 
Councilmembers Friedson and Jawando also called out Councilmember Riemer's comments that attempted to negate the importance of soil classification - Riemer equated the different classes of soil to different colors of roof that solar panels might be affixed to. "Why not just only limit it to blue roofs?" He asked sarcastically.  His statement is of course ludicrous and shows a complete lack of understanding (or care?) for Ag Reserve farms, while at the same time insisting that "agrivoltaics" (growing crops in the shade and drought conditions created by beneath solar arrays) is the way of the future.  
Forests and Water Quality:
Council staff Jeff Zyontz finally highlighted what MCA has been saying for a long time, the ZTA as written has no real protections for forests. The committee added "tree removal should be minimized" and left the rest up to forest conservation efforts already in place in the Ag Reserve. On water quality, the committee declined to go beyond prohibiting arrays on 15% slopes, which still leaves lots of slopes where the channeling of water off the arrays, hitting the naked soil below them will cause extensive runoff. When wetlands were discussed, the protection of them was left to the Planning Board's site plan process, where Chair Casey Anderson has already wondered aloud why putting them in wetlands would be a bad idea. 

This ZTA is not substantively improved by this committee and serious concerns are still held by people that are otherwise supportive of renewable energy - both urban and Reserve residents. This issue is controversial as it pits environmental factions against each other. The path forward is an acceptance of the nuance and care needed to green the grid while protecting existing natural systems - which includes forests, water quality and agriculture. We can get solar right - we must first do no harm. 

Stay tuned, the ZTA is headed to the Council in September. 

MCA is the lean, tenacious and award winning organization born of and for Montgomery County's Ag Reserve. Since 2001 we have been the boots on the ground focused on the protection of the small farms in the Ag Reserve, local food production and the protection of our shared water supply. We would be honored by your financial support. 
Picture

Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Action
    Barnesville Oaks/Greentree
    Bike
    Climate Change
    CSA
    Development
    Education
    Energy
    Events
    Fun!
    Growing Legacy
    Land Link
    Local Food
    Master Plan Update
    Mega Church
    Montgomery Council
    News
    Open Space
    Outer Beltway
    Parks
    Planning
    Potomac Bridge
    Racial Justice
    Recent Accomplishments
    Recipes
    Reducing Waste
    Regenerative Ag
    Releaf
    Rocklands
    Rural Schools
    Sewer
    Solar
    Take Action Now
    Ten Mile Creek
    Thrive 2050
    Transporation
    Water

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2012
    September 2012
    November 2010
    October 2010

ABOUT US
What We Do
A Brief History
Board & AC
Staff & Volunteers
Contact
​​Buy MCA Gear
ABOUT Ag RESERVE
History of the Ag
Benefits of the Ag
Farm Facts
Threats to the Ag
​A Place with Purpose
NEWS
EVENTS
Local Events
Ride for the Reserve
Royce Hanson Award
SUPPORT LOCAL
Ag Guide
Local Food Connection
Community Supported Agriculture
Restaurants & Retail
​Artists of the Reserve
COMMUNITY RESOURCES
​Land Link
Producer's Resources
Directory of Services
Picture
Montgomery Countryside Alliance
P.O Box 24, Poolesville, MD  20837
301-461-9831  •  ​info@mocoalliance.org
Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture
MCA is proud to announce that we have been recognized for a third time as one of the best small charities in the D.C. region by Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington. A panel of 110 expert reviewers from area foundations, corporate giving programs, and peer non-profit organizations evaluated 270 applications.

​MCA is known as an effective and innovative non-profit whose efforts to preserve and promote Montgomery County’s nationally recognized 93,000 acre Ag Reserve have brought increased public and governmental support of local food production and farmland and open space preservation. Most importantly, MCA’s efforts are putting more farmers on the ground and keeping them there.
COPYRIGHT © MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE 2008