Meeting Summary

This was a Legislative Committee work session (not a full Council meeting) focused on one agenda item, file 2026-0017, a discussion of revising the parish's solar farm siting rules in Appendix A of the code. Staff/legal walked through comparisons with state law and neighboring Tangipahoa and St. Charles Parish rules, covering minimum lot size, buffers, glare, and decommissioning enforcement, but no ordinance was actually voted on tonight; the committee discussed a draft that is headed to the Planning Commission in February before returning to the full Council. The only formal vote taken was to adjourn.

Watch Items

• Decommissioning rules still pending at the state level. State rulemaking (referenced Act 555, 2022, and LRS 30-1154) had a public hearing in December 2025; final rules were expected in the Louisiana Digest but had not been published as of this meeting [00:04:13]–[00:04:24], [00:19:08]–[00:19:29]. The parish plans to add its own supplemental penalty provisions (e.g., a daily fine and possible property lien for non-decommissioned sites) once state rules are final [00:18:32]–[00:19:02].
• Draft ordinance heading to Planning Commission in February, then back to the full Council [00:20:31]–[00:20:48]. Residents should watch for that hearing.
• Proposed changes not yet finalized, including: raising minimum lot size to 10 acres, expanding the buffer from 30 feet to 300 feet, requiring a lightning rod notation for 30-foot panels, adopting Tangipahoa's vegetative buffer standards, and requiring a glare engineering report plus "letter of no objection" from the Department of Transportation and Aviation/Airport authorities [00:06:14]–[00:16:31].
• Ad hoc committee status unclear, proposed to include Mr. Albert, Mr. Oob, Councilwoman Daniels, and Councilman Pellier to monitor ongoing state rulemaking, but no formal vote establishing it appears in the transcript [00:16:43]–[00:17:22].