We helped Ada County with our land. Now it wants to block our solar | Opinion

My grandfather, a proud sheep rancher and devoted Idahoan, purchased thousands of acres in Ada County with a simple belief: that land is both a responsibility and a legacy. He spent decades stewarding that land, not just for our family, but for the community.

When the state needed a path for Interstate 84, he donated the land. No compensation. Just a handshake and a belief in Idaho’s progress. When the federal government requested access to run a jet fuel pipeline across the property, fuel that still supplies Salt Lake City International Airport today, he gave it freely. No strings. Just a commitment to national infrastructure and local cooperation.

Two high-voltage electrical towers were later erected by Idaho Power on our land, again at no cost. Where the truck weighing station currently stands, it was built on land my father donated. Time and again, our family has said “yes” when the county or state came knocking. Not because we had to, but because we believed in a shared future.

And now, as I prepare to do something with my land that aligns with that same spirit of progress — hosting a utility-scale solar project — I’m told I might not be allowed to.

On July 30, the Ada County Board of Commissioners will consider a Planning and Zoning Commission recommendation to effectively ban solar development in the county. This recommendation is more than backward, it’s a betrayal.

It’s a betrayal of landowners who have contributed to Idaho’s growth for generations. It’s a betrayal of the idea that government should support, not stifle, locally driven innovation. And most of all, it’s a betrayal of Idaho values: freedom, independence and the right to use one’s land responsibly.

In recent years, the government has layered on yet another barrier to productive land use: It designated wide swaths of Ada County, including much of my land, as “farmland of statewide importance.” While that phrase may sound innocuous, it has become a blunt instrument used to restrict responsible landowners from improving their property. Instead of recognizing the actual condition, productivity, or use of the land, the designation sweeps nearly the entire county under one broad regulatory umbrella. It’s not precision policy — it’s careless government overreach.

Let’s be honest about what this ban would do. It would strip rural landowners of the right to build a more secure financial future. It would deny local governments millions in new tax revenue that could fund schools, emergency services and infrastructure. And it would lock Idaho into an outdated energy strategy that relies too heavily on volatile markets and distant power sources.

Utility-scale solar is not a threat — it’s an opportunity. It doesn’t replace agriculture; it complements it. Many solar projects, including those being proposed here, incorporate dual-use practices like sheep grazing between the panels — bringing our land back to its roots as a working sheep ranch, just updated for the 21st century.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about principles. My grandfather believed in progress. He believed in using land to support community needs, whether that meant helping build a highway, fuel a jet or power a city. Today, I’m following in his footsteps. But instead of a handshake and a thank you, I’m being told “no.”

Worse, the proposed ban and sweeping farmland designations would surrender Idaho’s control over land use to a creeping federal mindset that tells people what they can’t do with their land — rather than trusting them to do what’s best for their families and communities.

Idaho has never been that kind of state. We’ve always stood for liberty. For local control. For common sense.

So, I ask the Ada County Commissioners, and the people of Idaho, to stand with families like mine, with the legacy of pioneers who gave much and asked only for the freedom to shape their future.

Reject this misguided ban. Embrace solar. And let Idaho’s land, once again, light the way forward.