The Fresno County Superior Court has denied the California Farm Bureau Federation’s challenge to Fresno County’s cancellation of a Williamson Act contract to accommodate a solar generating project. The decision is the first to take on the interplay between the Williamson Act’s goals to protect agricultural land and the State’s directive to increase reliance on renewable energy in California. Concluding that “extraordinary circumstances” are not required to support Williamson Act contract cancellation, the court afforded substantial deference to the County to determine whether the public interest in developing solar projects outweighs the public interest in protecting agriculture. To read more on this decision, see our Environmental Law Alert.
