People want solar, but neighbors don’t want solar farms. What’s Ada County to do?
On Wednesday, a contingent sat at the front of a large room at the Ada County Courthouse, clad in yellow shirts that read “Don’t tread on my sunshine.” The group, along with over 100 others, was there before the County Commission to weigh in on how hard it should be to develop solar facilities on local farmland.
At first, Ada County staff had proposed an outright ban on solar farms in irrigated prime farmland, which the county defined as land with the “best combination of physical and chemical characteristics” for agriculture.
The county’s planning and zoning commissioners had been uncomfortable with the outright ban, according to Brianna Bustos, spokesperson for Ada County’s Development Services Department.
“The challenge here is there’s a lot of conflicting opinions,” Bustos said by phone. “I think they were trying to find a compromise there.”
Instead, the planning commissioners recommended “strongly discourag(ing)” solar farms on prime farmland and other farmland deemed of statewide or local importance. The County Commission would determine what is farmland of local importance.
But dozens of people testified Wednesday that the changes would amount to a de facto ban on solar projects, because large swaths of the county would fall under the definitions.
“Speaking for myself, I’m pro-solar and I’d like to see more solar farms developed in Ada County,” County Commissioner Ryan Davidson said from the dais. “I don’t need to be convinced that it’s a valuable technology. The whole discussion tonight is really, where is the appropriate place to put it?”
The proposed changes are part of the county’s overall zoning code rewrite.
In late June, Idaho Power announced that it expects “unprecedented growth in energy demand” in the future. Solar supporters see energy from the sun as a way to meet that need, while helping farmers earn a stable income that doesn’t involve selling their land to be turned into homes or strip malls.
But other people have raised concerns about developers’ intentions, solar projects changing the character of the area, and the potential loss of good farmland.
Idaho has lost almost a quarter of its farmland over the last 40 years, according to previous Statesman reporting. Ada County has lost three-quarters of its farm acres since 1945.
As with many developments, the divisions over solar leave county leaders in the position of deciding between the private property rights of the landowner and what neighbors believe is best.
“Our community values responsible development and long-term planning that balances progress with the preservation of our shared resources,” wrote Justine Krivanec, president of the Rural Community Advocates Corp., in a letter to Ada County. Her group was formed in April 2024 after a solar farm project drew particular attention and division.
The project stemmed from two brothers, who had been dairy farmers for decades, seeking to sell their land south of Kuna as they reached retirement age. Their land drew the interest of solar developers. The brothers thought solar would be less intrusive than a housing development, bringing in no new people or traffic. The energy could power more than 40,000 homes, according to previous Statesman reporting.
But neighbors raised concerns about impacts on property values and the changing rural nature of their rural community. Ada County commissioners, a year ago to the day of their Wednesday hearing, denied the project.
James Burch, an Ada County Planning and Zoning commissioner, explained Wednesday that he and the others added the other farmland definitions to prevent that same project from coming back. Much of the project was proposed on land that wasn’t prime farmland, Burch said.
“We never suggested a ban,” Burch said, while he presented a map showing farmland near the border of Ada and Canyon counties and south of Kuna. “Everybody on the commission is in favor of solar, but not in favor of it in that area.”
Neighborhood opposition and uncertainty in the development process can make investors scared to jump in. And nationwide, local opposition is a big challenge for renewable energy projects, according to NPR.
The changes would at least provide some predictable guidelines, said Alexis Pickering, executive director of Conservation Voters for Idaho, which favors more solar development. But the group isn’t happy about recommendations made by the Ada Planning and Zoning Commission that differed from the original staff proposal, Pickering said by phone.
One renewable energy advocate, Aaron Menenberg, Idaho policy manager at Renewable Northwest, told the Statesman by phone that the recommended definitions are more nebulous, cover almost all the available land and are more susceptible to neighbors’ frustration with a particular project.
“Solar can be returned to agriculture use, whereas a housing development or a Walmart cannot,” Menenberg said.
The county commissioners decided to defer a decision until they meet Sept. 10. The county is not taking any more public testimony.
This story was originally published July 31, 2025 at 4:00 AM.
