Reprinted from the Outer Banks Voice.

Currituck County is back in the solar business after approving new guidelines for solar farms during its January board of commissioners’ meeting.

The county banned new solar farms in January 2017, to give county officials time to revise the unified development ordinance before giving the go-ahead to new solar energy facilities.

Commissioners voted 4-3 in favor of the revised ordinance, ending the moratorium, but only after taking a mid-meeting break to further tweak the document.

The recess came after commissioners heard from nearly a dozen Currituck farmers who objected to the restrictions the draft ordinance placed on solar farm developers.

“What they’ve laid out is not feasible for any solar facility,” Joe Etheridge of Jarvisburg told the board, comparing the restrictions on solar farms to those on subdivisions. “All we want is a fair shake.”

The ability to rent part of their farmland to solar companies will put much-needed cash in farmers’ pockets, which may keep them from selling their land for residential development, Etheridge and others told commissioners.

“I wonder, do you folks understand how hard it is today — farming?” Thomas Wright asked the board. “These folks are just trying to find an alternative way to supplement their income so they can survive.”

In past discussions of solar farms, residents of nearby neighborhoods have been the most vocal, with complaints about dust and noise — particularly from pile driving — generated by the construction of the county’s two existing solar farms.

The first draft of the new ordinance presented Tuesday night addressed those concerns, by requiring a 300-foot buffer between the facility and adjacent properties, limiting construction hours to 7 a.m until 7 p.m. Mondays through Friday, and prohibiting pile driving during school hours when the site is within 1,500 feet of a public school or preschool.

Those restrictions were unfair to solar companies, speakers during the public hearing said, many pointing out that unlike subdivisions, solar farms won’t put a strain on county schools, facilities and services.

At the end of the public hearing, Commission Chairman Bob White called for a recess to allow commissioners time for further discussion — presumably away from the audience and the video cameras.

When the board reconvened, Commissioner Kevin McCord, who was sworn in Dec. 3 to fill the seat formerly held by Mike Hall, made a motion to approve the new ordinances, with the following changes:

• The first proposed draft limited solar energy projects to no more than two abutting properties — the new draft eliminates that restriction.
• The proposed draft limited solar farms to 250 acres, or one-half of the acreage of the property, whichever is greater. The new draft eliminates size restrictions.
• The new draft sets height limits at 20 feet, as opposed to the previous 15 feet.
• Construction may take place between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with no additional limits during school hours.
• Herbicide use to keep the weeds down will be permitted, although it was prohibited in the initial draft.
• Both the previous and new drafts require a 300-foot buffer between the solar facility and adjoining properties. In addition, 30 percent of the property must be maintained as a pollinator habitat or remain active farmland.

The approved ordinance requires 20-foot-deep groundwater monitoring wells, tested first to set a baseline and the following year, then biannually. If no contaminates are detected, the groundwater will then be tested every five years.

The developers will be required to post a deposit of 115 percent of the expected costs of taking the solar farm out of commission and removing the solar panels, returning the land to its original condition.

Commissioners McCord and Owen Etheridge, who was also sworn in in December, voted in favor of the motion to approve, as did Commissioner Mike Payment and Commissioner Selena Jarvis. Jarvis was sworn in Tuesday to fill the seat previously held by Bobby Hanig. Hanig won election to the District 6 seat in the state House in the November election.

Commissioners Kitty Etheridge, Paul Beaumont and Bob White voted against the motion to approve.

Solar farms have been a contentious issue since the county’s approval of its first solar energy facility, near Moyock, which began generating power in 2015.

Neighbors complained about the construction traffic, huge dust clouds, and the incessant noise from pile driving, which involves driving long posts, essentially telephone poles, into the region’s soft, swampy soil to support a building’s foundation. The company was cited numerous times by the county for violating the terms of the use permit.

A second, smaller solar energy facility was completed on N.C. 34, across from Shawboro Elementary School, which also generated complaints. The county denied a use permit to a third proposed solar array, this one at the site of a defunct golf course in Grandy, a move that was later overturned by the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Currituck’s Board of Commissioners approved a moratorium on issuing permits for future solar farms in January of last year. Tuesday’s approval of the county’s new ordinances officially ended that ban.

This story is provided courtesy of the Outer Banks Voice, a digital newspaper covering the Outer Banks. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Voice to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest about our coast.

Reprinted from Outer Banks Voice

After two years of wrangling with Currituck County and the courts, Ecoplexus, a company that develops solar farms, finally has a use permit allowing it to replace a defunct golf course in Grandy with an array of solar panels.

Currituck County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to approve the use permit for the planned solar farm, which will be at the site of the old Goose Creek Golf Course.

A ruling in March by the North Carolina Court of Appeals mandated that the board issue the permit, overturning a previous ruling by Currituck Superior Court. The project has been adamantly opposed by neighbors of the golf course, and a few Grandy residents spoke out against it again Monday.

However, county attorney Ike McCree and members of the board made it clear that the county didn’t have a choice.

“There isn’t an option that the board of commissioners has to approve or disapprove this project,” Chairman Bobby Hanig said during Monday’s meeting.

“We have to approve this project. All we can do is put limitations on what the project can be, and what they have to do to conform,” he added.

The Court of Appeals’ decision allowed the board to add certain conditions, which were included in Commissioner Paul Beaumont’s lengthy motion to approve he permit.

Those conditions include the following:

• Setbacks, or the distance from neighboring property lines, must be 300 feet from residential property, and 100 feet from commercial property.
• The maximum height of the solar panels will be 15 feet.
• The property must be screened from view between the solar farm and residential property by shrubs, canopy trees and understory trees.
• Less opaque screening may be used along other neighboring property lines.
• Grass and weeds must be kept below 24 inches tall.
• The panels must be constructed to withstand high winds from heavy storms and hurricanes.
• Although not a requirement, Ecoplexus plans to create a pollinator garden between the solar farm and the commercial property facing Carotoke Highway.

A major concern has been the disposal of the solar panels once the farm is taken out of commission. The permit requires that the equipment have at least a 115 percent salvage value, and the company must provide a decommissioning plan and a decommissioning performance guarantee prior to receiving a building permit.

In addition, certain drainage issues must be addressed with the county engineer. Parts of the golf course and adjacent properties are already subject to flooding during storms, but the company may not be able to remedy flooding on adjacent properties if it’s not caused directly by the solar farm.

Kim Hamby, an engineer for Ecoplexus, told commissioners that while she couldn’t promise that the work done by Ecoplexus would improve all of the drainage issues in the area as some are unrelated to the golf course, she could promise that the solar farm wouldn’t make it worse.

Because the company’s plans include reducing the amount of impervious surface, such as pavement, on the grounds of the solar farm, Ecoplexus won’t be required to comply with the county’s stormwater manual.

Hard surfaces will cover less than 10 percent of the site, County Planner Laurie LoCicero explained, which means the site doesn’t have to meet the requirements in the manual.

One way the company will reduce the amount of impervious surface, which doesn’t allow water to soak into the ground, is by taking up 2,200 square feet of cart paths, LoCicero said.

One of the biggest complaints raised by the neighbors of the county’s first solar farm, near Moyock, regarded construction noise and dust. The concerns raised about that project, a 2,000-acre solar farm that is the largest in the eastern United States, led to a two-month moratorium on new solar projects in January 2017.

Ecoplexus has agreed to take several steps to reduce the amount of construction noise and dust generated by the project in Grandy.

Construction will be limited to between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. said Mike Fox, an attorney representing Ecoplexus, and the buffer will be in place before construction begins. Dust from the project will be minimized.

Fox couldn’t promise that construction would take place only on weekdays but said the company would limit construction on the weekend to times when it was necessary to meet a deadline.

Commissioner Paul Beaumont was concerned about the noise generated, sometimes for eight hours a day, when pilings are being pounded into the earth. As a compromise, Fox said pilings wouldn’t be driven on the weekends.

“We will be a good neighbor,” Fox said. “Obviously if anyone has any concerns, let us know, and we will take care of them.”

LoCicero pointed out that working after hours would be a code violation, and if the company couldn’t adhere to the agreement, it could be fined.

McRee added that the county could place a stop-work order on construction if the company doesn’t comply with the conditions of the use permit.

Ecoplexus first applied for a use permit in April 2016. During several community meetings and public hearings, neighbors asserted that the solar farm didn’t belong in the residential neighborhood, would lower their property values, increase flooding and possibly pose public safety hazards.

In May 2016 the board voted to deny the permit. The board found that the solar farm was detrimental to public safety and wasn’t in harmony with the surrounding area, county McRee said during Monday’s meeting.

The company appealed the decision to Currituck Superior Court, which sided with the county. Ecoplexus appealed that decision to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, which overturned the Superior Court’s ruling.

This story is provided courtesy of the Outer Banks Voice, a digital newspaper covering the Outer Banks. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Voice to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest about our coast.