By Patrick Baron

PONTIAC – Pontiac is examining the creation of an ordinance to determine what districts of land could be utilized for solar farms.

Aspects of that include researching what kind of regulations would need to be in place and if special use permits would be needed. Pontiac City Administrator Robert Karls explained there are a number of regulations that must be determined before a solar farm can be built.

“Setbacks from particular zoning districts. If it’s a residential district it may be more than it would be if it was an ag district. Height requirements, reclamation requirements,” said Karls.

Since Pontiac is doing its homework on the legislation surrounding any sites for potential solar farms, Karls said a completed solar farm is something that is farther down the road.

“In terms of when the farms would be done, that’s quite a ways off,” Karls explained. “We’re just laying the groundwork with tackling the land use issues related to that.”

Karls also noted it will also be some time before the city receives any feedback from the public on solar farms. He said legislation and solar farm applications need to be in place first.

“We’ll have to wait until we get specific applications and have specific hearings, at this point it’s purely getting the legislation in place to review those, and then we’ll have to get applications in for those who actually do want to do them,” said Karls.

Patrick Baron can be reached at [email protected].