An engineer inspects solar panels. (Metro Creative Services)

The Jeff Davis Parish Police Jury is working to establish rules and regulations to oversee future development of commercial solar energy systems within the parish.

“We do have some people that are looking at solar energy in the parish,” Police Jury President Steve Eastman said. “We put it in I-1 (light industrial) for our zoning ordinances, but we don’t have any information about it.”

The parish has already rejected plans for wind turbine operations, but has no specific rules and regulations in place governing commercial solar energy systems to include solar panel farms, Eastman said.

“I’m not looking to stop somebody from doing solar panels on a house, this is so that we have  some regulations in place so that they (commercial companies) have to come to us and we have to approve it,” Eastman said. “I don’t want them just popping.”

The Police Jury’s Ordinance Committee spent more than an hour Wednesday discussing the matter and reviewing ordinances from Iowa and Indiana.

Among the key concerns expressed by police jurors is where the solar farms would be located, setbacks, height requirements, noise limits, wind rates, application and permit fees and damage to roads.

Parish Engineer Alex Guillory also wants police jurors to consider requiring or offering incentives to companies to establish native prairie plants as part of the development’s landscaping. The plants, which withstand rainfall and drought, have very deep root systems which help to recharge shallow aquifer systems.

No final decisions were made concerning the proposed ordinance, but discussions are expected to continue until an ordinance can be drafted.