Liberty Consolidated Planning Commission Executive Director Jeff Ricketson kicked off Tuesday’s Liberty County Board of Commissioners meeting by presenting a zoning ordinance amendment for solar energy systems.

The proposed ordinance is an adaptation to the State Modeled Code and was reviewed by Emory Law School. The ordinance addresses siting, construction, installation, operation, maintenance and decommission of solar systems. Both Walthourville and Riceboro have adopted the ordinance.

“This is a repeat of a presentation I made back in the summer and at the time Riceboro and Walthourville were both considering adopting a solar systems ordinance and have since done that,” Ricketson said. “Now I am coming back to you to present what they have done and recommend you consider a similar ordinance.”

District 6 Commissioner Eddie J. Walden brought up concerns of the decommissioning of the solar systems potentially 30 years down the line due to the lifetime of the solar panels.

“The land owner could have a bond put up but if that bond is not put in place, what are we winding up with,” Walden asked. “Right now you’re guessing what the life span of a solar panel is and it could be 30, 50 or it could be 10 years; it could be something the community doesn’t want to deal with.”

The commissioners agreed to bring the ordinance back before the commission at the Feb. 21 mid-month meeting.

In other county business, Deputy Director of Liberty County EMA Larry Logan gave an update to the hazard mitigation plan. Hazard mitigation is the effort to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters, according to fema.gov.

“We want information from the community to make this plan straight from the community and not just data I can look up,” Lead Hazard Mitigation Planner Brittney Whatley said. “It’s a multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan so the county is doing the plan and the jurisdictions have to sign an adoption letter at the end of the process, and once they have adopted the plan then they can get funding without going through the county to get to FEMA.”

A crucial aspect of the planning process for the hazard mitigation plan is feedback from the community. Below are surveys to add important date to the plan update.

School District Participant Survey: https://publicinput.com/3799

Stakeholder Participant Survey: https://publicinput.com/3798

General Public Participant Survey: https://publicinput.com/3781

The LBOC will hold its mid-month meeting Feb. 21, at 5 p.m. in the BOC board room.