Solar permitting — Vernon Parish, Louisiana
1 news item, 1 known opposition group.
Southwest Louisiana parish; Leesville seat; Cleco Power MISO grid; Fort Johnson (formerly Fort Polk) U. Permitting: Conditional Use Permit; 300-ft max / 150-ft min setbacks. Track record: Leesville-area agricultural solar ground-moun…
Key driver: Southwest Louisiana parish; Leesville seat; Cleco Power MISO grid; Fort Johnson (formerly Fort Polk) U.S. Army installation with federal land constraints but large private pine timber and pasture area available; low density (35.7/sq mi); standard CUP with minor federal buffer consultation near cantonment; Cleco service territory with reliable interconnection process; B-grade reflects large rural land area, low compliance barriers, permissive Police Jury, and minimal saturation risk
Permitting process
Local permitting pathway
Conditional Use Permit (CUP) — Vernon Parish Police Jury; federal consultation required near Fort Johnson buffer
Setbacks & buffers
Act 279 (2025) siting requirements, applying to a solar facility of 75 ACRES OR MORE not wholly within an industrial-zoned area or an LED certified site, constructed after 1 January 2026: 300 ft from a RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY LINE to the nearest solar equipment, with a 35 ft barrier of new landscaping or a 50 ft barrier of natural plants; 100 ft from the low water mark of natural and navigable waterways; 50 ft from the pavement edge of a public road, with a 35 ft vegetative barrier. Noise may not exceed 10 dB above pre-construction ambient at the property line. A parish may adopt its own siting requirements and opt out of the state requirements by resolution, and a landowner may opt out by written agreement with the operator
Spacing requirements
None established
Size restrictions
None codified; managed via CUP/SUP conditions
Penalties & bonding
Total penalty: +28 | Active moratorium: +28
State-level permits & approvals
Parish zoning authority; no state solar preemption; conditional use permit typically required for utility-scale (>1 MW); no mandatory decommissioning bond statewide (some parishes require it)
Full records for this county are part of a SitePath subscription.
State policy & grid context
State RPS & clean energy policy
No binding RPS | None | Louisiana has no state RPS; voluntary pilot 350 MW distributed
State incentive programs
Federal ITC eligible; Louisiana sales tax exemption for solar equipment; Louisiana property tax exemption for solar; no state income tax credit for commercial solar
Grid & interconnection
MISO / Cleco Power
Full records for this county are part of a SitePath subscription.
Battery storage (BESS) P1 State-Default Permitting
No confirmed parish BESS ordinance.
BESS ordinances & bylaws
County-level battery-storage status, safety requirements, and projects — each linked to a primary source.
Community opposition P1 1 tracked
Organized opposition signals on record for this county — petitions, community groups, and oppositional coverage — each linked to its primary source.
SitePath maintains the most complete community-opposition dataset available, refreshed continuously from primary sources.
Subscriber intel Subscribers
Researched for this county and available with a subscription:
- 🔒Project track record
- 🔒Developer intelligence
- 🔒Governing board
Energy-related meetings & dockets P1
No tracked activity yet — coverage expands weekly.
State PSC dockets P1
No tracked activity yet — coverage expands weekly.
Local news P3
Filter by grade, state, moratorium status, and compliance stringency. Compare counties side by side.