Wind and Solar Energy Leasing in Washington County, Colorado

Wind: real resistance, but the current ordinance status stays unverified here

The county hub already documents Washington County's 2020 moratorium on wind and solar permits (Resolution 64-2020), adopted after local opposition to a proposed NextEra project near Fleming, and notes that secondary sources disagree on the exact setback ultimately adopted for wind turbines. This research pass could not resolve that disagreement or confirm whether a final, wind-specific ordinance has since been adopted, or whether the original moratorium remains formally in place for wind specifically -- some search results describing a Washington County wind-ordinance drafting process turned out, on closer inspection, to describe an unrelated Washington County in a different state, a mix-up worth flagging explicitly given how similarly the two processes read in press coverage. Treat any wind-lease opportunity or concern in Washington County, Colorado as requiring direct, current confirmation from the county's own Land Use Office rather than relying on any secondary summary, including this one.

Solar: a documented, currently posted regulatory framework

Unlike the wind side, Washington County's Solar Power Production Facilities (SPPF) regulations are directly posted by the county and were most recently revised through Board of County Commissioners public hearings on August 28 and September 4, 2025. Any solar power production facility in the county requires both a Use by Special Review approval and a building permit -- meaning solar development here goes through a discretionary land-use review, not an administrative sign-off. The regulations set a minimum 10-foot side-yard setback, with the possibility of additional setbacks required under a separate section of the code depending on site conditions.

One provision is worth flagging specifically for anyone evaluating a solar lease or considering how a project might be sized: for purposes of applying the county's acreage-based standards, a proposed solar facility is counted together with any other existing or proposed facility under common ownership located within 1,320 feet of the same tract. In practical terms, a landowner or developer can't avoid a larger acreage-tier requirement simply by dividing a project across smaller, separately platted parcels under the same ownership close together -- the county aggregates them for review purposes. If you're negotiating a solar lease on a Washington County parcel, or evaluating land near an existing or proposed facility, ask the Land Use Office how this aggregation rule would apply to the specific tracts involved.

What to verify before signing a wind or solar lease here

• Get the current, adopted text of both the solar regulations and any wind-specific ordinance directly from the Washington County Land Use Office -- not a news summary or a generic wind-industry site.
• Ask specifically whether the 2020 wind/solar moratorium has been formally lifted, and if so, on what date and by what resolution.
• If evaluating a solar project, ask whether any commonly-owned tracts within 1,320 feet of the proposed site would be aggregated with it for acreage-standard purposes.
• Confirm current setback requirements, including any additional setbacks that may apply under the code beyond the base 10-foot side-yard figure.