Approval Of Comprehensive Plan And Zoning Regulations Postponed

By Gordon HopkinsAfter public input during a hearing on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners have decided they need more time to review the recently revamped County Comprehensive Plan and Zoning regulations.After two years of work, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted to approve the planning and zoning regulations and sent the results to Jefferson County Commissioners for their approval.The difficulty the commissioners face is finding a balance between private property rights and community interests. Not everyone thinks that balance has been met yet. Enough people appeared for the hearing that it had to be relocated from the commissioners’ usual meeting room to the courtroom. Comprehensive PlanThe county hired Marvin Planning Consultants to help update the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning regulations and ensure they are consistent and comply with state regulations. John Shepard, senior planner with Marvin, said at the hearing, “Both of these documents are completely new and more modern format, hopefully much more usable than what you’ve had previously.”Regarding the Comprehensive Plan, Shepard said, “The plan is not regulatory. It is aspirational. The plan is not a ‘Thou shall,’ it’s the citizens of Jefferson County telling the board what they would like to see to make it worth their blood, sweat and tears over the next 20 years. The plan is a playbook that we’ve documented, your trends, your existing conditions.”At the hearing, the primary topic was zoning. Acreages versus AgA familiar complaint is residential acreages in the ag district. Some ag producers feel that people who move into the ag district should expect the sounds and smells of farms and livestock and that the zoning regulations shouldn’t be accommodating those residents at the expense of agriculture.One speaker who made that point was Brandon Pohlmann, “If I want to expand beyond 300 cows, I currently have 200 now, if I want to start a feed lot, I cannot. Your zoning regulations and setbacks prevent me from that. You’re preventing hard working citizens in Jefferson County from growing their business because somebody has an acreage. For me to feed 2,500 cows needs a mile setback. I cannot do that because numerous people, including Danielle (Schwab, County Commissioner), live in that one mile.”“When you build a house, you have to realize that there’s farming things that go on and livestock smells and there’s dust and there’s noise,” said Pohlmann. “You’re going to live in the country? Well, you got to realize that the guy across the road raises livestock.”Pohlmann said, “Let us raise livestock. Jefferson County suited good. You’ve got grass, you’ve got corn, perfect for cattle. There’s no reason that you shouldn’t be able to have a 500 head, 1,000 head feed lot scattered throughout the county, here and there, and not have it zoned out of it because all the setbacks.”Sheperd noted that the zoning regulations can be adjusted in the future, even after approval.“We had a couple Planning Commission members who were very adamant that, if you want a junk yard on your farm, you should be able to have a junk yard on your farm. That was their interpretation. Through this process, when we did not really reach consensus,” said Shepard. “But there’s definitely different philosophy between ag first and the Ag zone versus you can do whatever you want as long as you’re not doing demonstrable harm to the neighbors.” Solar EnergySimilar concerns were raised regarding solar energy facilities. Hannes Zetzsche, an attorney for BairHolm LLP, which represents NextEra Energy, also spoke. He said the setback as proposed would virtually eliminate the possibility of a solar farm in Jefferson County, “We’ve surveyed a number of counties, kind of in this vicinity here, and so the ones that we found were Thayer, Fillmore, Saline, Seward, Lancaster and Johnson counties, they all have setbacks no greater than 150 feet from these types of sensitive areas. So, the difference there between 150 feet and what you have here is a half mile to a mile is enormous.”Commissioner Mark Schoenrock asked, “Would you want to live 150 feet from the solar farm?”“I don’t think that that would be an issue at all. I mean, especially with the screening requirements, the height limits you have, I probably wouldn’t even see it from 150 feet away,” Zetzsche responded. “And, frankly, that’s not the job of zoning regulations.”Also objecting to the proposed solar regulations was former commissioner Gale Pohlmann, who expressed the opinion that the regulations were intended to keep solar farms out of Jefferson County, “In a nutshell, these solar regulations are restrictive and not regulatory.”Regarding 10.03.06, Section 5A, Pohlmann said, “This requires a 200-foot setback from the property line of a non-participating property owner. This is too restrictive for the landowner wanting to participate. On a quarter section of land this would eliminate 44 acres from around the perimeter that he would need to farm, but the crops would be limited due to required sky space from the develop/owner of the panels.”Pohlmann said, “These regulations will basically stop the opportunity for any solar development in Jefferson County. This added source of income could potentially provide the opportunity for a farmer to bring his son or daughter back into the farming operation. We all know we need young people to return to the farm. We need growth in the County to expand our tax base. With our neighboring Counties to the east and west having four lane highways, it’s challenging to bring new industry into the County. Our wind farm regulations have eliminated the wind industry here, and let’s not do the same with the solar regulations.”Pohlmann also brought up the state’s increasing need for electricity, “I have heard that in less than five years, Nebraska will have to import electricity because we will not be able to produce what we consume. Do we want to be at the mercy of others?” A moratorium on new Commercial Solar Energy Conversion Systems applications instituted by Jefferson County Commissioners on February 11, 2025, for the purpose of reviewing and revising regulations governing solar farms in the county. Commissioners intend that the moratorium remain in effect until the new regulations are approved and implemented.The board decided to delay final consideration until March 24, 2026, to review public comments and address these issues further.

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