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In a unanimous vote, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors agreed on June 9 to adopt an urgency ordinance that extends a moratorium on the acceptance, processing and approval of battery energy storage systems (BESS) for up to 10 months and 15 days while county staff continues to work on local regulations.
Two days later, county planners released a draft local BESS ordinance that is set for review by the San Benito County Planning Commission on June 17.
Both the moratorium and the draft ordinance were prompted by the filing last summer by Longroad Energy of an application for a BESS facility, dubbed Allium Solar, proposed for a site north of Hwy 156 across from the Amazon warehouse.
County Planning Director Abraham Prado told the supervisors on June 9 that the current 45-day moratorium was expiring on June 11 and that the 10.5-month extension was needed to allow time for staff to continue work on a draft ordinance designed to establish local regulations for BESS projects.
Prado told BenitoLink the extension “ensures that the county maintains regulatory continuity while completing the review and adoption process for the proposed BESS ordinance.”
If the commission recommends the draft ordinance be approved, he said it would then go back to the supervisors for their consideration of adoption on June 23.
Later in the week, Prado told BenitoLink the draft ordinance is “now published and available on the county’s webpage.”
He said that the draft ordinance includes several major components, including definitions for key technical and regulatory terms not currently defined by the county.
“The ordinance establishes land use standards where facilities may be permitted within the county and what permit requirements will apply,” he said. “The ordinance will also address fire hazard scenario zones and flood hazard areas.”
Prado told BenitoLink that a particularly significant area of focus has been working with the Hollister Fire Department and the Office of Emergency Services (OES) because of the need for their expertise in dealing with battery chemistry and thermal runaway risks, which occur when battery cells experience an uncontrolled increase in heat and temperature that can lead to fires and the release of hazardous gases.
“Fire Department staff have provided substantial input during the drafting process, particularly on issues related to emergency response, fire prevention, public safety, training, and operational requirements,” he said.
Once the draft ordinance reached a level suitable for broader agency review, he said that in addition to the fire department and OES, it was distributed for review and comment to the Environmental Health and Sheriff’s departments, as well as other stakeholders.
“This interdepartmental review process is intended to ensure that the ordinance reflects the expertise and operational needs of all affected agencies,” Prado said.
He went on to say that the draft ordinance also includes impact mitigation provisions, spelling out what applicants may be required to fund or provide fire response equipment, specialized responder training, emergency communication improvements, and other measures necessary to address project specific impacts.
During public comments at the June 9 meeting, Leslie Austin of Aromas, who is co-director of the CCA Workforce and Environmental Justice Alliance, told the board a “good, permanent ordinance takes years to draft.” She said the county needs to take its time, but also warned that a 10.5-month moratorium could result in the developer bypassing the county and seeking approval from the California Energy Commission.
“Because a moratorium adopts no standards of its own, you would have nothing on the books to attach to that project,” she cautioned. “That is how a long pause loses local control. Adopt your own interim standards. Once your standards are on the books, they follow the project even to the state.”
Sophia Schwirzke, community relations manager for Central Coast Community Energy, said a BESS project in the county would strengthen local reliability, improve resilience during wildfire season and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. She also warned the board that continuing to delay moving forward on the Allium Solar project risks losing local control.
“Communities that have blocked energy storage have seen developers turn to the state’s AB 205 permitting pathway through the California Energy Commission,” she said. “It removes local control and eliminates the very community input this board is working to protect.”
In response to Austin’s and Schwirzke’s concerns about the developer going to the state for approval, County Counsel Gregory Priamos reminded the supervisors that the applicant could go to the state at any time, whether there is a moratorium in place or not. He also said the staff understood the supervisors want to maintain control over the project.
“We have solicited information from throughout the state, from the experts, from all the other public agencies that have gone through this analysis and what they have produced as far as guidelines or ordinances,” he said. “We’ve also reviewed state law and our intent here and it will be reflected in the document that proceeds to the Planning Commission next week and will then appear before this board on June 23.”
Priamos assured the board that the ordinance would include all safety standards, proper certification of those who will be constructing the facility, consider local conditions, sensitive uses, and utilize every tool available to ensure that the battery energy storage systems are not going to provide any threat to public health and safety, but can produce the storage as designed.
Longroad’s Development Manager Lauren Cyphers reminded the board that the county will benefit from an estimated “tens of millions in sales tax revenue for solar panels and battery storage equipment” because the county will be the “point of construction.” And when the solar property tax exclusion expires Jan. 1, 2027, she said even more millions of dollars will come to the county.
Then she got down to why she called into the meeting.
“You’re looking at a rare combination of very substantial revenue with very little marginal demand on county services,” she said. “We submitted our application for Allium in August 2025. In the 10 months since, county planning staff could not process our application. For the last 90 days, we’ve had the moratorium. And now the county is asking us to wait an additional 10 and a half months on top of that.”
She said it was unfair to ask any applicant to wait two years.
She warned that if the ordinance was delayed any longer, public hearings would move to Sacramento.
“Your constituents will go from speaking directly to their elected supervisors to filing written comments with a body that does not represent them,” she said. “The county becomes a commentator on its own land use decisions, not the decision maker.”
Ron Cheshire, government affairs director with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 234, described BESS as “new technology.” He emphasized that it would be important to add workforce and safety standards, suggesting that a C10 contractor, “not some solar panel installation crew,” should do the work.
Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez said he was concerned about how close the facility would be to schools and flood zones. He also mentioned the property tax law change would guarantee the county would receive taxes that could amount to millions of dollars.
Velazquez was referring to the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development announcement that new solar projects would become subject to local property taxes as property tax exclusion for new active solar energy systems will end Jan. 1, 2027.
“All these other technologies are coming at us,” he said, “and we really need to make sure we’re making those decisions. I don’t want it to be a situation where the state decides. And more importantly, I want to make sure the public is involved in this conversation.”
Supervisor Angela Curro also wanted assurance that revenue would come from the project.
“Everyone knows we have a budget crisis, so I’m just going to say my number one [concern] is what is the benefit and the financial gain for the community,” she said. “My other concern is that there is community engagement, and that Fire and Environmental Health are on board with this ordinance.”
Supervisor Mindy Sotelo was unclear about why there would need to be a 10.5-month moratorium if the draft ordinance was nearly completed. Prado said that the most recent moratorium would end June 11, and an additional extension was needed while the county continues its review of the draft ordinance.
The Planning Commission “have the right to say that they want to continue this item and have additional information be brought back to them,” he said. “If they do recommend it, maybe the government may have some concerns and may want to have directions for us to continue working with members of the public.”
Prado added that he had not coordinated with the fire department recently.
“We’ve been in communication with them, but right now they are in review of the draft ordinance,” he said. “Environmental Health and the Office of Emergency Services have not had enough time to provide comments.”
Even though the draft ordinance was nearly completed on June 9, and the county had not hired any consultants, Sotelo asked Prado if hiring an expert consultant might help with the process. He said it would be helpful, noting that San Diego County collaborated with consultants and the process still took several years.
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