Moore County's Board of Commissioners have approved new zoning rules that will allow the development of industrial scale solar farms in the County, despite a unanimous recommendation to the contrary from the Planning Board. The Board took up the matter during their Tuesday, June 18 regular meeting.
The text amendments approved allow solar farms as a conditional use in the County's business and industrial zoning districts, as well as in the RA-Rural Agricultural zoning district that encompasses most of the county's rural areas.
As a "conditional use," each proposed solar farm will have to win approval from the Planning Board in a process that allows both supporters and opponents of the use to weigh in on the project under oath in a quasi-judicial public hearing.
Solar farms will be subject to number of requirements under the approved ordinance, including a minimum lot size, height restrictions, setbacks, fencing, and screening where they adjoin residential property and public rights of way. The applicant for a zoning permit for a solar farm is also required to supply a plan for removing the structure once it is no longer in use.
Hearing from the other side
Before they voted to allow solar farms, the Commissioners held a public hearing on the proposed text amendments to the zoning ordinance that was a reverse image of the public hearing held by the Planning Board on the same matter.
The Planning Board heard almost exclusively from opponents of solar farms, who objected to taking agricultural land out of production and were concerned about environmental impacts.
Those who spoke at the Board of Commissioners meeting were uniformly in favor of solar farms.
Planning Board members, and their Chairman, Robert Hayter, made clear that their resistance to solar farms was based largely on the high level of subsidies provided for solar energy by both the state and federal governments.
Ellie Collins told the Commissioners that the Planning Board had made a political statement in their decision. She noted that "oil and dirty coal" receive their own government subsidies. "We are talking today about clean energy," she said, urging the Commissioners to approve the text amendments.
West End Farmer Mike Wilson agreed with Collins that the Planning Board's decision was "political, not planning." If subsidies are the issue, he noted that most farmers receive some subsidies from government programs.
"I even get farm subsidies," Wilson said, adding that he would likely pursue a solar farm as one option for gaining income from his land, if his farm were not positioned too far from a utility substation to make that possible.
John Bowman of Whispering Pines read Governor Pat McCrory's proclamation of June as "Solar Energy Month" in North Carolina, trumpeting the fact that the state last year ranked fifth among the states in solar energy development, and is on track to rank fourth this year.
The final speaker in the public hearing was Bill Harris, owner of Sandhill Turf and the applicant for two solar farms, one on NC Highway 211 near the Montgomery County line and another on Samarkand Road.
Harris said he had done his own analysis of the pros and cons of solar, taking into account the fertility of the soil in a particular acreage, the availability of water, and its potential for generating income from crops.
"With appropriate regulation, I think solar will be good for Moore County," he said.
Commissioners' Chairman Nick Picerno asked Harris whether the text amendments proposed by the planning department were fair and not overburdensome.
"If you read my lease, you might think I am overburdensome," Harris said, expressing support for the amendments.
Anti-subsidies; Pro-landowner
The Planning Board objection to solar farms centers on subsidies. As they moved toward approving text amendments allowing solar, the Commissioners made sure no one thought they supported those subsidies.
"I wish there were no subsidies," Picerno said, "but since I am not in Washington or Raleigh, there is nothing I can do about that."
"If you are a landowner," Picerno said, "I want you to be able to do what you want with your land, as long as you aren't harming the person next to you."
"I don't believe in subsidies," Commissioner Otis Ritter said, "that's the reason the country is in debt. But I can't, in good conscience, tell people they can't do this with their land."
Industrial scale solar farms must have access to the electrical grid, and the typical residential power line isn't sufficient to carry the load. So solar companies look for areas with three phase power, close to a substation. The Planning Department had prepared a map of the County with colored circles indicating the most likely areas for solar farm development.
"All of those circles are in the northern part of the County," Commissioner Saunders said, noting that economic development in that area is a perennial concern for the Commissioners. "This could have a real positive impact on landowners in the northern part of the county, if they can increase their return per acre," Saunders said.
Noting that he often passed by a solar farm along Interstate 74 on the way to the beach, Commissioner Larry Caddell expressed a concern that the screening requirements in the ordinance be adequate to screen farms positioned along roadways.
"My only issue is to make sure there is some type of buffer," Caddell said. "I will yield to the staff on that. I don't want to burden the landowner."
All four of the Commissioners present voted to approve the text amendments allowing solar farms as a conditional use. [Commissioner Jimmy Melton was attending gathering honoring a former Southern Pines police officer who died over the weekend.]
Applications for three solar farms in Moore County have been filed with the NC Utilities Commission, which must issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity before a solar installation can be built. The certificate for Harris' proposed installation on Samarkand Road was issued on May 21. The other applications are still pending.
Public Works
At the request of Public Works Director Randy Gould, the Commissioners approved a lease with the Village of Pinehurst that will allows the County to continue to use a maintenance lot on Rattlesnake Trail, in exchange for installing up to fifteen irrigation taps at a cost of $950 each. Gould explained that this represented a $350 increase from the original proposal and would cover the cost of installation.
The Commissioners approved a project ordinance for the replacement of a sewer lift station at a cost not to exceed $955,000. Gilbert Engineering had originally bid $1,284,125 for the job, but that amount was lowered through negotiations led by McGill and Associates, the consulting engineering on the project. The County has secured a $1 million low interest loan from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to pay for the work.
Commissioner Saunders noted that the contingency amount provided for in the contract was lower than the County would normally include. Gould explained that it was important to bring the project in under $1 million to avoid the time-consuming process of seeking a new approval from the Local Government Commission, which must sign off on County borrowing. Taking the project back through that process could delay it to a degree that construction bids would expire and the County would have to start the bidding process over as well, Gould said.
Other Business
In other business during the Monday, June 18 Board of Commissioners meeting:
• County Manager Wayne Vest reported that progress continues on moving operations into the Rick Rhyne Public Safety Center, with the 9-1-1 Communications Center and Sheriff's Office Dispatch scheduled to make the move on July 9. So far, the $32 million project continues to come in under budget.
• The Board accepted a $764,634 Home and Community Care Block Grant that Aging Director Terri Prots said was $16,000 less than the County received last year.
• At the request of Human Resources Director Denise Brook, the Commissioners approved modifications to the County classification system and pay plan to reflect changes made in the FY2014 budget approved during the June 4 Commissioners meeting. The Board also approved an annual report that is filed with the Office of State Personnel.
• Based on a review by the County Attorney's Office, the Commissioner approved a contract with First Carolina Care, which will take over as the County's health benefits administrator on July 1.
• Convening as the Board of Directors of the East Moore Water District [EMWD], the Commissioners approved a revision of the project ordinance for EMWD Phase 3, closing out the $5.3 million extension of the district, which involved laying 45 miles of water line.
• The Commissioners approved a revised project ordinance to close out the Lake Pinehurst Lift Station project.
• At the request of County Attorney Misty Leland, the Board approved an amendment to a lease agreement that allows New Cingular Wireless to place communications equipment on the County's Short Road water tank, as well as an indemnification agreement that holds the County harmless in connection with a building permit Cingular will file with the Village of Pinehurst for the installation of the equipment and an equipment building.
• The Commissioners approved revisions to the bylaws of the Emergency Services Advisory Committee that change the membership of that committee to reflect changes in County personnel.
• The Board approved a $49,308, three-year deal with CenturyLink that will use that provider's broadband service to connect public Works, Animal Control, and Hillcrest Park to the rest of the County's network. The County had previously used Broadlink to provide this service.
• At the suggestion of Commissioner Ritter, the Board directed the County Manager to develop a policy that would allow the flying of flags at the County's Solid Waste Convenience Centers.
• Chairman Picerno created a new two-Commissioner task force to deal with Information Technology issues, including problems with the Enterprise Resource Planning system, which is supposed to integrate information across all departments, but, thus far, has failed to live up to that promise. Picerno and Saunders, who have recently wrapped up work on the FY2014 budget, will constitute that task force.
• The Board made several appointments, including:
- Francis Debari to the Board of Health,
- Sandra Miller and Joan Oswald to the Nursing and Adult Care Community Advisory Committee.
- Emily Coltrane, Carrie Neal, Beckie Kimbrall, Tiffany Bartholomew, Matt Garner, and Sara Bigley to the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council.
