Variance for proposed solar garden denied

OREGON — A solar company’s application for a zoning variance to build a solar garden in Oregon was unanimously denied by city council members on Tuesday.

USS Ducks Solar — a subsidiary of Midwest-based US Solar — sought to construct, own and operate a 28.2-acre, 4.8-megawatt community solar garden at 1061 W. Oregon Trail Road. Dan Leupkes, who supports the project, owns the property which currently is zoned R-1 agricultural exemption.

The property is located along the west edge of Park West, owned by the Oregon Park District, and south of the Center Hills Subdivision.

“One of the things I look at for the city [when making decisions], I have to look at the city in 20 years,” Oregon Mayor Ken Williams said. “Yeah, there’s challenges in housing in the next two to three years, but what’s going to happen when the demographics change? We’re going to see more people coming out west, and Oregon is going to be a good attractant for that.”

When that happens, the city will need areas to build more housing, he said. That will bring in families with school-aged children, which will boost the schools, Williams said.

Commissioners Tim Krug and Melanie Cozzi both expressed support for solar and other forms of clean energy, but said they didn’t feel the W. Oregon Trail Road location was best for the city.

“Oregon already has reduced R-1 housing, and I think that takes priority with us being able to expand,” Cozzi said.

US Solar Project Developer Ryan Magnoni said he would “love to put this thing 5 miles outside of town and still have it produce as much power,” but noted that that wasn’t possible. The grid outside of Oregon city limits wouldn’t support the energy produced, he said.

The cost to get that much power to the grid would be more than the project and would bankrupt the company, Magnoni said.

The variance application was “phase 2″ of the process, Magnoni said. Several more steps would follow before the solar garden would be able to be constructed, including approval by state officials, he said.

Following the council members’ vote to deny the variance, Williams told Magnoni and Leupkes that there are some people on an adjacent property potentially open to an annexation. That property, which is further from residential areas, might be more appropriate, he said.