County closer to solarizing Williamson Act lands

County Supervisors are inching closer to enacting policies that could enable solar and wind “farms” to be built on Williamson Act contracted lands.

On Tuesday morning, the Board of Supervisors accepted a two-tier process for public and private utility applications that would require applicants to meet stricter criteria if they want to build on lands that receive property tax breaks under the Williamson Act. The Board is awaiting recommendations from several agricultural-focused groups before it determines what the standards might be — such as how much land the operations may consume, mitigation measures that would allow conversion back to farmland and proximity to an electrical grid.

Power generators built on ag lands that are not under contracts will be subject to lesser restrictions under the first tier.

The Board’s decision on Tuesday to define criteria that could permit such activity is the latest in a series of discussions about how to allow ranchers and farmers to become part of California’s green energy movement while ensuring they don’t weaken the intent of the Williamson Act, which aims to sustain ag land statewide.

“I think we will be able to find a way to discern between those projects that are clearly compatible and good for agriculture, and for the landowners and the land itself, and those that maybe have to meet a higher bar,” Second District Supervisor Pete Vander Poel said.

Created in 1965, the Williamson Act allows counties to enter into rolling contracts with farmers and ranchers to keep ag land in production for at least 10 years. In exchange, their lands are assessed in ways that reduce property taxes by up to 90 percent.

State law allows for the construction of gas, water and electric facilities to be built on contracted parcels so long as they do not compromise the land’s long-term productive agricultural capability. It’s up to counties to define “electric facilities.” So on June 8, supervisors voted to expanded its definition of public utilities to include solar and wind power generators, and on Tuesday, voted unanimously to apply the definition to agricultural lands.

According to planner John Heiser, the county has received 12 special use permit applications for large scale solar electrical generation facilities, seven of which are to build on Williamson Act contracted lands.

“Currently, none of these facilities have been approved,” he said.

Two types of lands are allowed under the Williamson Act program: irrigated, also referred to as “prime,” and non-irrigated, also referred to as “non-prime,” such as grazing fields. It is possible that the county could permit public utilities on non-irrigated, but not irrigated. County supervisors have indicted that they will ask planners to look at each application on a case by case basis, rather than approve a blanket policy.

First District Supervisor Allen Ishida grows citrus on more than 200 of the more than one million acres of Williamson Act contracted land in Tulare County. He said he supports public utilities on non-irrigated lands, but recognizes that on irrigated lands it could undermine the intent of the act.

“I’m in favor of putting solar farms on non-irrigated lands, because the productivity of non-irrigated lands is so much lower than irrigated lands,” he said. “I would say that generally speaking that it would be contrary to the Williamson Act to allow them on irrigated lands.”

While county Supervisors such as Ishida see room for public utilities on some types of Williamson Act lands, Tulare County Farm Bureau Executive Director Tricia Stever maintains a stricter definition of “farm” that does not include harvesting sun rays and wind power.

The Farm Bureau, and the Tulare County Agricultural Advisory Committee, are looking to create a numeric scoring system similar to the Rural Valley Lands Plan that would determine whether it was appropriate to build on contracted lands.
 
Contact Jenna Chandler at 784-5000, Ext. 1050, or jchandler@portervillerecorder.com.