Garth Stapely, Modesto Bee

Someday, someone could harvest sunshine as well as almonds near the Fink Road Landfill in west Stanislaus County.

County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously agreed to explore converting part of a 1,040-acre farm on county-owned property next to the landfill into a solar field.

Also Tuesday, leaders without discussion postponed weighing the future of farmland tax breaks because a majority of supervisors own such property.

County staff members think a solar business would fetch a higher lease price than the $138,000 they've been getting each year for renting land to an almond company. LBFI I-5 Lease Ltd. Partnership isn't interested in renewing its lease anyway, which ends Nov. 3, partly because of irrigation problems.

The landfill occupies only 219 of the county's 2,670 acres west of Crows Landing, with a 175-acre expansion contemplated in about 10 years and a 425-acre expansion in about 30 years that would meet the county's waste disposal needs until 2100.

Of the rest, 1,678 acres are suitable for a solar-farming combination, said Stan Risen, county assistant executive officer.

A couple of businesses are intrigued because major transmission lines at the adjacent garbage-burning plant could conduct power generated by solar panels, typically placed 4 feet above ground, Risen said. Any land not used for solar could be farmed, he said.

It makes sense to lease to one company as opposed to splitting the farm from the solar field, Risen said, because water rights designated for a 345-acre piece now in almonds could be spread over the entire acreage.

The county has pledged to keep the land in agriculture because of fallout from a 2001 dispute over whether to expand the landfill and import medical waste to the site.

A solar farm would not violate the county's promise to West Side communities to "tie up this land in a long-term farming lease," said Sonya Harrigfeld, environmental resources director.

"I say full steam ahead on the solar project," said Supervisor Vito Chiesa.

A rangeland lease on 760 nearby acres, also expiring in November, should be renewed to a cattle rancher, Risen said.

The solar idea first was explored for the former Geer Road Landfill east of Modesto and close to a Turlock Irrigation District station. But complications arose because the county co-owns the filled dump, closed in 1990, with Modesto, and talks swung toward the West Side, said Rick Robinson, the county's chief executive officer.

An evaluation panel could review proposals and bring a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors on Nov. 24, Risen said, after which the top contender would have a year to negotiate with the county. West Side communities could hold informational public workshops during that year, officials said.

Tuesday's expected debate on raising farmland taxes did not materialize because officials are not sure if all supervisors can vote without violating conflict of interest laws, Robinson said after the meeting.

Supervisor Dick Monteith owns no land in Williamson Act contracts, the 1965 law giving growers incentives to keep farming as opposed to selling land to developers. And Supervisor Jeff Grover said his land no longer receives the tax break.

But Supervisors Jim DeMartini, Bill O'Brien and Chiesa benefit from the lower taxes. DeMartini said he asked the county counsel's office for advice on avoiding a potential conflict but hasn't received it.

In a separate but similar challenge, the Building Industry Association is waiting to hear from the state Fair Political Practices Commission about a complaint charging that some supervisors should not have voted in December 2007 on an ag preservation policy because they own farmland.

Robinson decided early Tuesday to cancel two items on the agenda, including whether to stop tax breaks on parcels of less than 10 acres. The other asked for two supervisors to form a committee exploring how to proceed without the $1.4 million previously expected from the state to make up for charging lower taxes on Williamson Act farms.

Instead, Robinson's staff will study the matter and bring recommendations to the board in a couple of months, he said after the meeting.