For the past two years, our Alliance’s Clean & Renewable Energy and Sustainability Team (CREST) has been laser-focused on working with county governments as they have sought to revise their land use codes to reflect the increased demand for locally produced clean energy, especially solar. Many counties have passed temporary bans, known as moratoriums, on new solar projects as they go through the revision process, and there has been a great deal of concern that these revisions would result in counties passing codes that are prohibitive to critically important energy infrastructure development in Western Colorado. As energy costs and demand continue to rise, populations continue to grow, and Western Colorado experiences some of the most severe climate change impacts, the need for counties to be forward-thinking and welcoming to new clean energy projects is greater than ever. That’s where we come in!

Those of you who follow our work closely will remember our involvement in the Mesa County Land Development Code revision process last year, where we worked alongside the Mesa County Commissioners, Planning Department, and members of the community to craft a code that is now being held up across Colorado and neighboring states as a prime example of good governance and rule-making. This code respects the concerns of community members while also opening the door to Mesa County being a regional leader in responsible clean energy production, and it was all done in just over four months. 

Today, CREST is working to replicate last year’s success in Montrose County, which has been in the midst of a solar moratorium and land development code revision process since mid-October of 2022. Montrose has taken FAR longer to complete their revisions for a variety of reasons, extending their moratorium not once but three separate times, with the latest extension running through June 16, 2025. This latest extension was due to a new Board of Commissioners taking office last November and the old board wanting the decision to be made under the newly elected leadership of Rick Dunlap and Scott Majares, who joined sitting Commissioner Sue Hansen. 

CREST has attended every meeting since the first draft of the land development code was released in October of 2024. Upon its release, our team had a great many concerns with the rules being proposed and worried that it would be among the most over-prescriptive, over-regulated codes anywhere in Western Colorado. Montrose was attempting to thread a needle, not wanting to be as open to solar as Mesa County but not wanting to be quite as restrictive as San Miguel County, and ended up leaning much more heavily on San Miguel’s example. 

Thanks to our members’ direct involvement over the past few months, where public comment was accepted, we have been able to persuade the commissioners to adopt several new policies that will make Montrose a discerning-but-welcoming partner in the clean energy transition. The latest proposed code, while protecting prime farm ground and respecting neighbors of large-scale solar developments, will create an energy environment that is more locally produced, cheaper, and cleaner for all residents. 

However, this is no done deal yet, as the political winds in Montrose have taken an unexpected – and somewhat alarming shift. In February of 2025, just weeks after taking office, Commissioner Rick Dunlap suddenly passed away, leaving his seat vacant. A vacancy committee quickly convened and selected Sean Pond, a resident of Nucla who rose to prominence for his fierce opposition to the Dolores River Canyons Monument, to fill the seat through 2026. Immediately upon being sworn in, a political power struggle ensued. Commissioner Sue Hansen was stripped of her seat as chair of the board, with Pond and Majares, who are seemingly much more ideologically aligned on the far-right than politically moderate Hansen, teaming up to appoint themselves as chair and vice chair. Hansen, being the most senior on the board, was previously viewed as a leader who was believed to be shepherding the new members into their duties, but this latest action has shown they have no interest in learning about the reins of power from Hansen and instead seized the power for themselves immediately. What this bodes for clean energy in Montrose County is unclear, but what is clear is that the political dynamics have drastically shifted.

We anticipate a final vote on the solar codes to take place by May of 2025, ahead of the moratorium deadline in June.