A mid-sized solar energy system received City Council approval Monday, despite some neighbor concerns that it is being built atop a saline wetland.
The group of homeowners interested in developing the 100-kilowatt solar energy system on land owned by the Capitol Beach Neighborhood Association had a letter from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission recommending it put the solar panels farther to the north to avoid affecting saltwort growing in the wetland area.
The group has agreed to do that, said Terry Wittler, a Lincoln attorney and one of three Capitol Beach homeowners, who created Beach Solar LLC, which is developing the solar energy system.
The group will not disturb the wetlands, he told the council Monday.
“We are not going to be pouring concrete pads. We will not be excavating.â€Â
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The City Council previously changed city codes to allow development of mid-size solar energy conversion systems such as this one. City codes already allowed large systems in industrial and agricultural areas and small systems for individual homeowners in residential areas, but had no rules for mid-size systems.
The group plans to use land west of the lake, between West Lakeshore Drive and Interstate 80, for the solar panels.
The solar panels would be screened from homes by a row of trees and the lower elevation of the land itself, according to Wittler.
Darlene and Neal Pohlman, who appealed a planning commission decision to allow a special permit for the solar energy system, could not be at the council hearing Monday to defend the appeal because of a death in the family.Ìý
But Darlene Pohlman, in an email to the council, pointed out saline wetlands are among the most unusual and threatened wetland communities in the state.Ìý
"I realize that balancing wetland conservation with the wants of people is very difficult for city government, especially when it is wrapped in the cloak of solar energy and influential attorneys," she wrote.Ìý