NO ZONING APPROVAL in Macon County Stands Between A Signed Solar Lease And Construction
Macon County has no planning and zoning, meaning the proposed 3,500-acre Macon County Solar project does not face the kind of local land-use approval process many property owners may assume exists.
There is a remarkably simple fact about the proposed Macon County Solar project that I believe every property owner in this county should understand: Macon County does not have planning and zoning. That means there is no county zoning approval standing between privately leased farmland and its eventual use as part of a utility-scale solar development.
This isn't speculation, and it isn't an argument for or against solar energy. Macon County's own government website asks the question directly: “Does Macon County have Planning and Zoning?” The county's answer is equally direct: “No.”
That one word becomes considerably more important when we're talking about Doral Renewables' proposed Macon County Solar project, which has been described as a 208-megawatt development covering approximately 3,500 acres north of Macon.
Doral has estimated the investment at roughly $345 million and has said it hopes to begin construction in 2027.
For months, we've heard about megawatts, investment, jobs, property taxes and thousands of acres of solar panels. What hasn't received nearly as much attention is the local land-use process—or, more accurately, the absence of one.
In many communities, a development of this size would involve some combination of zoning applications, public notices, hearings, special-use permits, setback requirements or votes concerning whether a particular piece of property could be used for a particular purpose. Those proceedings can also provide neighboring property owners with a formal opportunity to appear before local government and voice concerns about a proposed development. That isn't how unincorporated Macon County operates.
Missouri law provides a mechanism for counties to establish planning and zoning, but Macon County has not adopted countywide planning and zoning for its unincorporated areas. Consequently, when a Macon County landowner signs an agreement allowing his or her property to participate in a solar development, there isn't a Macon County zoning board waiting farther down the road to decide whether solar panels are an appropriate use of that property.
The other side of that equation may be even more important.
A neighboring farmer or homeowner who didn't sign a solar lease doesn't have a county zoning hearing where he or she can appear and challenge the proposed land use next door. There isn't a rezoning proceeding to attend or a county special-use permit hearing where neighboring property owners can formally object to the conversion of participating farmland into part of the solar project.
That does not mean Doral can sign a lease today and arrive tomorrow morning with bulldozers.
A utility-scale energy project still has other hurdles. Macon County Solar has been moving through the electrical-grid interconnection process, and applicable state, federal, environmental, utility, road, right-of-way and other requirements can still affect how and when the project moves forward.
But Macon County zoning approval isn't one of those hurdles.
That distinction leads directly into another part of the Macon County Solar investigation that Macon Mo Online has already been following: the roads.
Earlier this year, Doral representatives and Macon County officials were discussing a road-use agreement associated with the project. At first glance, a road agreement may sound like fairly routine government paperwork. Once you understand that the county doesn't have planning and zoning authority over these properties, however, the road agreement begins to look considerably more important.
Construction across thousands of acres could mean heavy equipment, trucks, construction crews and repeated use of rural county roads. Unlike privately owned farmland, those roads are public infrastructure maintained for the people who live here. The conditions placed upon their use, responsibility for damage and the obligations imposed upon the developer therefore deserve close scrutiny.
In other words, if Macon County isn't controlling this development through zoning, we need to understand exactly where the county does retain authority and leverage.
There is another part of this story that deserves its own examination as well: the property owner who never signed anything.
If someone's home or farm borders participating acreage, what protections exist for that property owner? Questions involving setbacks, drainage, fencing, vegetation, road damage, construction traffic and the placement of project infrastructure don't disappear simply because the county doesn't have zoning. What changes is the process through which those questions are addressed—and potentially who has the authority to address them.
Those are questions Macon Mo Online will be examining separately because the rights of participating landowners are only one side of a development covering approximately 3,500 acres. The rights and protections of the people living next door matter too.
None of this requires taking a position for or against the Macon County Solar project. It requires understanding the rules under which one of the largest private developments in recent Macon County history is moving forward.
Regards Maconites,
R. Dominique - AKA Trashton Porter : Editor
