County to consider changing ordinance
By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 17, 2016 1:45 AM
Wayne County commissioners Tuesday morning will hold a public hearing on proposed changes to the county's solar energy facilities ordinance.
A second hearing will be held on a proposal to name a new service road off of U.S. 70 West as Emmett Neal Road.
The hearings will start at 9:15 a.m. in the commissioners' room on the fourth floor of the county courthouse annex.
An agenda briefing will be held at 8 a.m. followed by the formal session at 9 a.m., also in the commissioners' room.
The major changes in the solar energy facilities ordinance deal with the abandonment and decommissioning of a facility and notification of solar facility projects for airports and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
Under the changes, any solar energy facility that ceases to produce energy on a continuous basis for 12 months will be considered abandoned unless the current owners provide "substantial evidence" (updated every six months after 12 months of no energy production) to the county of their intent to maintain and reinstate the operation of that facility.
It will be the responsibility of the responsible party to remove all equipment and restore the land to its condition prior to development of the facility.
If the facility is determined to be abandoned, the county will notify the party responsible that it must remove the facility and restore the site to its condition prior to its development within 360 days of the notice.
If the responsible party fails to comply, the county may remove the facility, sell any removed materials and initiate judicial proceedings or take any other steps legally authorized to recover the costs required to remove the facility and restore the site to a non-hazardous pre-development condition.
Also, notification of intent to construct such a facility must be sent to the Seymour Johnson Base commander or designated official 30 days before the regularly scheduled Wayne County Planning Board meeting on the proposal.
It also would change the definition of a residential area from 25 dwellings within a one-tenth of mile to 25 dwellings within a quarter of a mile of the facility.
It also changes the definition of solar facility to include those on rooftops.
In other business, commissioners continue to fine tune the rules regarding the public comment section of their meeting.
At their Jan. 5 meeting, the board moved the public comment period from 10 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. to allow for comment on agenda items before any votes are taken. On Tuesday, commissioners will be asked to make even more changes. If approved, the changes would require speakers to sign up with the clerk to the board 10 minutes before the start of the meeting.
They will be required to give their name, phone number and to state whether or not they plan to speak about items on the agenda. People who speak on agenda items will be allowed four minutes, while those speaking on non-agenda items will be limited to two minutes.
The chairman will make the determination as to whether or not the comments are being made on agenda items.
The board will hear presentations from Wayne County Board of Elections and state Department of Transportation officials.
Dane Beaver, elections director, will promote the need for Wayne County poll workers. The elections office is running a campaign to recruit poll workers. He will also update commissioners on the upcoming dates leading up to the March 15 primary election.
Information concerning voter identification for the 2016 elections will be presented as well.
Giles Harrell, DOT Division 4 district engineer, will give an overview on the role the DOT will play in the county's street assessment process in Canterbury Village and North Creek subdivisions.
The county is using a state law to make improvements to subdivision streets in order to bring them up to state standards so that the DOT will take them into it road maintenance system.
The county will levy a special assessment against property owners in the subdivisions to pay for the work.
Harrell also will discuss highway obstructions interfering with traffic/maintenance such as bricked-in mailboxes that are too close to a street.
Also on the agenda, commissioners will be consider motions to approve:
* A resolution supporting the Connect N.C. Bond Act. The bond act legislation allows voters to decide on a $2 billion bond package that supports investments in infrastructure around the state -- state universities and several community colleges, including Wayne Community College, water and sewer infrastructure, National Guard facilities, agricultural research, parks, public safety and recreation.
* Job reclassifications in the emergency medical services department.
A work session on coal ash will be held at 2 p.m.
The speaker will be Dr. Rebecca Fry, associate professor of environmental sciences and engineering at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Public Health.