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AGENDA: Skirmish over solar array to return to Marion County

Courthouse Square, where the Marion County Board of Commissioners offices are located and where meetings are held. (Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter)

The Marion County Commission has a small handful of topics to consider at its meeting Wednesday.

Commissioners will consider two items from its Health and Human Services Department: whether to empower 24 people to be able to have police place into custody a person experiencing a mental health problem; and whether to appoint or re-appoint four people to its Local Alcohol and Drug Planning Committee.

A long-battled, proposed solar array on Selah Springs Road and Cascade Highway will return to the agenda. Brush Creek Solar LLC wants to build the 12-acre array on farmland there. Opponents’ latest argument is that there would not be proper police service to the area and that the project would impact more than 12 acres.

Since its approval in 2017, array has ping-ponged between a hearings officer to the board of commissioners and the state Land Use Board of Appeals since then. On Wednesday, commission will consider upholding a hearings officer’s Dec. 21 decision to approve the project, which opponents appealed Jan. 4. County officials say the board’s decision Wednesday could still be appealed back to the state Land Use Board of Appeals.

Meeting details: Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 9 a.m., Senator Hearing Room, 555 Court Street N.E., Salem

Commission members: Sam Brentano, Kevin Cameron, Colm Willis.

Have a tip? Contact reporter Troy Brynelson at 503-575-9930, [email protected] or @TroyWB.

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