LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council’s General Government and Planning Committee voted 6-to-4 Tuesday to advance a proposed zoning change that would allow large-scale solar farms on agricultural land in Fayette County for the first time.
The proposal would permit solar farms larger than five acres in agricultural zones under a conditional use permit, with conditions including continued farming on-site, annual inspections, and at least 85 percent of ground under panels remaining vegetated.
The measure marks a shift from September, when the council voted to ban large-scale solar on farmland. Several council members remain opposed.
Council At-Large member Chuck Ellinger said he had reservations about the proposal.
“You obviously did a lot of work, but I do think there are some holes in it,” Ellinger said.
Council District 12 member Hil Boone also said he could not support the measure as written.
“I can’t support what came out of the committee,” Boone said.
Farmland advocates, including the Fayette Alliance, say the proposal is resurfacing months after the council voted against it and are questioning how the recommendations were developed.
Fayette Alliance Executive Director Brittany Roethemeier said the work group that produced the recommendations met without public access and excluded local agricultural stakeholders.
“That work group has been meeting behind closed doors. That work group was not open to the public…and I think one of our main concerns is that no local agricultural stakeholders were included in that work group discussion. We find that really discouraging,” Roethemeier said.
Roethemeier said farmland is irreplaceable and that solar energy should be placed elsewhere.
“Fayette Alliance and so many of the other agricultural stakeholders support renewable energy in Fayette County… We support solar energy on parking lots, on brownfields, on city-owned property, on rooftops in commercial and industrial areas,” Roethemeier said.
Council District 4 member Emma Curtis said the vote is intended to move the discussion into a more structured process.
“This vote, in my mind, is a vote to move this discussion that is going to continue happening one way or another into a more productive place where we can engage the rural land management board. Where we can engage the environmental commission,” Curtis said.
The proposal will be sent to the Planning Commission for a 60-day review and public hearing, as well as to the Rural Land Management Board and the Environmental Commission for review. A final council vote is not expected until this summer.
Copyright 2026 WKYT. All rights reserved.

source