By PETER DAY
Leader Editor
Chris Carrillo, the deputy chief of staff for Third District Supervisor James Ramos, is expected to present a status update and listen to concerns at Thursday’s regular meeting of the Lucerne Valley-Johnson Valley Municipal Advisory Council.
The MAC meeting comes a week after chairman Richard Selby and vice-president Joanna Wright met with Ramos at his San Bernardino office to ask about his stance on a proposed county solar ordinance.
“James was very interested in what we have to say,” Selby said during an interview with the Leader last Thursday. “He wants to help the community.”
However, Selby expects Ramos and other County Board of Supervisors members to approve the ordinance at its next regular meeting in early December.
“That (the ordinance passage) means projects can apply and go all around us,” Selby said. “We’re going to be living with that same model for the next couple years.”
The MAC and other High Desert entities wary of unbridled renewable energy projects have been hopeful the Board of Supervisors would create energy zones rather than rely on applicants to seek conditional use permits.
If the board votes to continue the same project approval model, Lucerne Valley and other areas hit hard by large-scale renewable energy projects will have to wait until the county begins its general plan update process, Selby said.
“We’re going to have our fight when the general plan cycle comes around,” he said. “There will be so much push from solar companies. This big machine is going to be hard to stop a year and a half from now.”
Lucerne Valley and Johnson Valley aren’t the only communities struggling with the impacts of industrial-scale renewable energy projects. So are the Morongo Basin, Landers, Homestead and others in the region.
“We’re all in the same boat,” he said.
The MAC is also expected to discuss hauled water, the cemetery and other issues that impact Lucerne and Johnson valleys.
Thursday’s MAC meeting will take place at 5 p.m. at the Community Center.