Last week, Lexington policymakers debated allowing some regulated use of ground-mounted solar in rural Fayette County — with proponents arguing the city needs to take concrete steps to reach carbon reduction goals and skeptics worrying that the expanded use could harm valuable farmland and fail to result in measurable outcomes for the city.
"We have to create and be intentional about creating and meeting those goals," council member Shayla Lynch said, referring to the city's target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. "We can't just throw a goal out there and just let it sit or push the can down the road."
Council members were careful to reiterate their support of solar and other forms of renewable energy, but the majority said the idea needed more input.
"I'm concerned [that] allowing solar in the ag area will actually not help us get there, that it is not helping Fayette County. It is not helping Lexington directly," councilwoman Jennifer Reynolds said.
The committee ultimately stopped short of allowing the rural solar piece of the proposal. Instead, a planned work group will be selected over the summer and likely begin to meet this fall.