photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Douglas County commissioners listen on as they hear more about the solar farm regulations recently passed out of the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission.

When Douglas County doles out roughly $21 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding, leaders will be considering racial equity impacts, whether organizations have already received COVID aid, and more.

At its meeting on Wednesday, the County Commission took a step forward in allocating the funding by authorizing staff to finalize a draft of a request for proposals form. The form is a piece of paperwork that groups requesting ARPA funding have to complete; it announces and describes a project and solicits bids from qualified contractors to complete it.

Commissioners previously said they wanted to add some elements to the form to help them make their decisions on which requests to fund.

Specifically, last month, the commission expressed interest in a tentative weighted score for each section that would contribute to a “scoring matrix” to help compare funding requests. Commissioners also wanted a section asking applicants to list the pandemic aid they’ve already received. Those elements are now part of the draft request for proposals form.

In addition, the form will also include a prompt about whether programs will be sustainable after the COVID money runs out, as well as a racial equity impact analysis section that’s similar to the one the county used when allocating Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds.

Commissioner Shannon Reid said the commission’s discussions about the funding process had been productive, and that she expected the changes to the form would be helpful moving forward.

“I think this was a really great conversation, and I just appreciate how quick the turnaround on all of this has been,” Reid said. “… I think this is going to be a really thoughtful and intentional document.”

The final request for proposals form is expected to be released during the week of March 14. Last month, county officials said that groups requesting funding would need to return the forms by May 2 at the latest. Many agencies have already sent letters of intent to the county saying that they intend to apply for ARPA funding, but entities that have not submitted a letter of intent will still be allowed to apply during the request for proposals process, County Administrator Sarah Plinsky said last month.

In other business, the commission:

• Heard an overview of the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission’s work to draft regulations for “solar energy conversion systems,” or solar farms. Those regulations passed out of the Planning Commission last week, and the County Commission is tentatively scheduled to consider them on April 6.

The proposed regulations would allow for up to a 1,000-acre solar farm to be constructed in the county, and they spell out details such as how far the solar panels must be set back from roads, houses, and other structures. County officials have been developing the regulations after Florida-based energy company NextEra Energy expressed interest in developing a 3,000-acre solar panel farm that straddles the border of Douglas and Johnson counties. The project basically would be east and north of Baldwin City.

After hearing the Planning Commission’s update on Wednesday, county commissioners tentatively decided to set aside time during their March 30 meeting to learn more about a related topic — “agrivoltaics,” the simultaneous use of land for both solar power generation and agriculture. Members of the Planning Commission said they thought the proposed regulations could support such land use in Douglas County.

• Approved a site plan for Veritas Christian School to add four modular classroom units, additional parking and a lagoon on-site sanitary sewer system at its campus located at 960 East 1296 Road, a few miles south of Lawrence.

That approval is conditional because the school must seek Kansas Department of Transportation and Kansas Department of Health and Environment approval for some elements of the plan.