The proposed regulations would be good news for individuals and businesses in Lexington curious about integrating solar.
"It allows rooftop solar panels essentially everywhere in Lexington in just about every zone on every kind of building. If you want to build rooftop solar, go for it," Adrian Bryant with CivicLex explains. "For the solar panels that are built on the ground, they will be allowed and depending on the zone In the broad strokes it'll be permitted in most residential zones, business zones, industrial zones."
The glaring exception: rural solar farms, like the one proposed last year by Silicon Ranch and East Kentucky Power Cooperative.
Read more about their 2024 proposals.
Opponents, including Mayor Linda Gorton, say Fayette County can't afford to cover up prime farmland. Gorton has instead put her attention on a possible 600-plus acre Haley Pike Landfill, and allotted money in her proposed to studying its feasibility.
Supporters of solar farms on the outskirts of the county maintain Lexington doesn't have enough space inside the Urban Service Boundary to install enough solar to hit its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.