Indiana § 8-1-42-10 - Setback requirements; highways, collector roads, and local roads; nonparticipating properties; landscape buffer; height restriction; waiver of setback and buffer requirements with consent of nonparticipating property owner

§ 8-1-42-10. Setback requirements; highways, collector roads, and local roads; nonparticipating properties; landscape buffer; height restriction; waiver of setback and buffer requirements with consent of nonparticipating property owner

Sec. 10. (a) Subject to subsection (e), and except as otherwise allowed by IC 36-7-4-1109, a project owner may not install or locate a CSE system on property in a unit unless the distance, measured as a straight line, from the nearest outer edge of the CSE system's solar panels to:

(1) the nearest edge of the right-of-way for any:

(A) federal interstate highway, federal highway, state highway, or county highway is at least forty (40) feet;

(B) collector road is at least thirty (30) feet; or

(C) local road is at least ten (10) feet; or

(2) the property line of any nonparticipating property is at least fifty (50) feet.

(b) Subject to subsection (e), and except as otherwise allowed by IC 36-7-4-1109, a project owner may not install or locate a CSE system on property in a unit unless the distance, measured as a straight line, from the nearest outer edge of the CSE system's solar panels to the nearest point on the outer wall of a dwelling located on a nonparticipating property is at least two hundred fifty (250) feet.

(c) Subject to subsection (e), and except as otherwise allowed by IC 36-7-4-1109, if a project owner installs a CSE system within a distance of two hundred fifty (250) feet, measured as a straight line, from the nearest outer edge of the CSE system's solar panels to the nearest point on the outer wall of a dwelling located on a nonparticipating property, the project owner shall install a landscape buffer in the area between the nearest outer edge of the CSE system's solar panels and the nonparticipating property owner's property line that faces the CSE system's solar panels. The landscape buffer must be:

(1) in a location that is not on the property of the nonparticipating property owner; and

(2) constructed from such materials;

as set forth in a plan submitted to the unit during the permitting and approval process for the CSE system.

(d) Except as otherwise allowed by IC 36-7-4-1109, a project owner may not install or locate a CSE system on property in a unit unless the height of the CSE system solar panels are not more than twenty-five (25) feet above ground level when the CSE system's arrays are at full tilt. However, a permit authority or a unit may not impose a clearance requirement between the ground and the bottom edge of a CSE system's solar panels.

(e) The:

(1) distance requirements set forth in subsection (a)(2) and subsection (b); and

(2) requirement for the installation of a landscape buffer set forth in subsection (c);

may be waived with respect to the siting of any one (1) CSE system, subject to the written consent of the owner of each affected nonparticipating property.

As added by P.L.90-2022, SEC.2.