Montgomery County Council President Katz and Councilmembers:
We, the undersigned, urge you to approve the Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 20-01, which grants farmers and other landowners within Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve the right to build community solar on their land.
We thank the County Council for committing to a zero-emissions economy by 2035 and reducing emissions 80% by 2027. To reach these commitments, the Council needs to unleash a renewable energy transformation. This must include community solar. Data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory demonstrate that rooftop solar will not produce enough electricity to meet our clean energy needs.
We join our neighbors in cherishing the Ag Reserve’s role in preserving our County’s open space and farming legacy. We believe granting landowners within the Reserve the ability to give a helping hand to those with no access to affordable solar energy is a more than appropriate way to honor the role this land plays in our County. This community solar ZTA is the very spirit of neighbors helping neighbors, permitting (but not mandating) farmers another source of income.
One day, our children and their children will drive through the County and see the community solar arrays as a source of beauty and pride, a human innovation that saved our farmland from climate change. And they will look back at the elected officials who made it happen with the same pride.
Please pass ZTA 20-01 without weakening amendments. We can’t stop climate change without it.
