Rules for solar energy farms near
By Steve Herring
Published in News on September 18, 2014 1:46 PM
After nine months of discussion, it appears that Wayne County commissioners are about ready to set a public hearing on zoning rules for solar energy farms.
The board held a work session on the proposed rules Tuesday morning.
They continued to chip away at setbacks distances, but overall appeared satisfied with the latest version of the rules that they had previously rejected as too restrictive.
Dealing with unexpected concerns can be handled by the board's ability to consider variances, they said.
"That is why I don't want us to get bogged down here and cover some things and leave some other things out when we have the variance," Commissioner Ray Mayo said.
Chairman Wayne Aycock agreed.
"We can sit here and 'if' it all day," he said. "We have got to make a decision for the best for the majority of the citizens."
During the session, Donna Mills and Roger Casey, who are part of a group developing a 213-acre solar facility off U.S. 13 South, called on the board not to be too restrictive.
They were particularly concerned about setbacks as well as requiring underground wiring at the solar energy sites.
Mrs. Mills said that several families were joining together to pool their property for the 213-acre site. A portion adjoins the county landfill, while some would front on U.S. 13, she said.
Mrs. Mills said she could not understand the need for a setback from the property line or between the different tracts of land.
"We didn't consider two adjoining sites coming together," Price said. "We were looking at one piece of property and once you got the power onto the property everything else (wiring) would be underground."
Commissioner Bill Pate said the proposal needed language to address the group's concerns about having a setback between adjoining parcels.
Price said he would change the wording to read that the setback is waived when two or more parcels are being put together for one site.
Mrs. Mills and Casey said the location of power lines should be left to Duke Energy and project engineers.
The primary reasons for requiring underground lines is for appearance, Price said.
"On power lines, what is says is that on-site power lines between the solar panels and inverters shall be underground," he said. "Any other power lines could be above ground."
Pate suggested that wording on that issue be clearer.
Price told commissioners he had made the changes to the proposal they had suggested at their Sept. 2 meeting, including measuring setbacks from the road right-of-way, changing the setback from 100 to 60 feet from a road and from 50 to 25 feet from a fence line, making it the responsibility of the parcel owner to clean up a site within 12 months of cessation of operations, and eliminating a minimum lot size.
Commissioners suggested that he add that the areas be maintained by the facility operator to prevent an overgrown appearance.
Price said he would do so and add that the sites would be inspected based on complaints that an area is overgrown.
The sticking point for commissioners Tuesday was possible confusion over setbacks involving a single residence and a residential area.
The setback would be 100 feet from a single residence building or 100 feet from the property line of a residential area.
A residential area is comprised of at least 25 houses within a tenth of mile.
County Manager George Wood said he wanted the ordinance to be very specific about where the measurement started from.
Daughtery suggested that the wording for that setback be broken down into two sentences to make it more clearly understood.
He also told Price to reduce the setback to 50 feet from the property line in a residential area and he would be "all on board."
Commissioner John Bell asked Price if the ordinance was being done for safety or appearance.
"Appearance and protection of property values for the adjoining property owner," Price said. I don't think anything has been shown that any of these are unsafe. I think there have been some complaints by neighbors about noise. Unless somebody goes over there and tampers with the inverter there is no risk."
Planning Board Chairman Mike Aycock said setbacks are needed to protect neighboring property values.
"I don't think property value in your home will be as much tomorrow, if there is a solar panel sitting right next to it, as it is today," he said.