County approves solar rules revisions
By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 22, 2016 1:46 PM
Revisions to the county's solar energy facilities ordinance were unanimously approved by Wayne County commissioners following a Tuesday morning public hearing.
No one spoke during the hearing.
That was not the case in a second public hearing in which several people proposed different names for a new service road off of U.S. 70 West. Commissioners took no action and referred the road naming back to the Planning Board.
The major changes in the solar energy facilities ordinance deal with the abandonment and decommissioning of facilities 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.
The Planning Board had originally suggested naming the new service road Emmett Neal Road.
Other names suggested during the hearing were the William Bailey Frontage Road, Issac Smith Road and Smith-Phillps Road.
In other business, the board continued to fine-tune rules governing the public comments portion of their meeting.
Earlier in the month the board moved public comments to 9:15 a.m. on the board's meeting dates on the first and third Tuesdays of the month.
Changes approved Tuesday specified the time as 15 minutes after the start of any board meeting in order to include special sessions.
Other change are:
* Speakers must sign up with the clerk to the board 10 minutes before the start of the meeting including their name, phone number and to state whether or not they plan to speak about items on the agenda.
* Speakers who comment 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.
Commissioners also:
* Approved a resolution supporting the state's $2 billion Connect NC Bond Act that will be on the March 15 primary ballot
* Established a public hearing on proposed rezoning for interchanges of U.S. 70 West, N.C. 44 (the new U.S. 70 Goldsboro Bypass) Interstate 795 and U.S. 117. It will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 1, in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the county courthouse. The board will hold a work session on the rezoning on Tuesday, Feb. 16.