Clarke planners postpone consideration of proposed solar power plant - The Winchester Star

Clarke planners postpone consideration of proposed solar power plant | Winchester Star | winchesterstar.com

BERRYVILLE — The Clarke County Planning Commission will not consider a proposed solar power plant until design changes are made.

Friday morning, five people voiced concerns about the project during a public hearing that attracted a large crowd.

Horus Virginia I LLC aims to develop the 50-megawatt plant at Bellringer Farm on 400 acres between Westwood Road (Route 636) and Triple J Road (Route 632). The property is just west of Berryville, near Chet Hobert Park and D.G. Cooley Elementary School.

The firm is asking county officials to approve a special-use permit and site development plan for the facility.

At the hearing, though, Horus asked for the matter to be postponed until changes to its original plan are completed. A major change, according to county Senior Planner and Zoning Administrator Jeremy Camp, will be relocating an electrical yard to avoid a large number of rock outcrops on the property.

“There are a lot of outcroppings ... that may be a challenge for development,” Camp said.

The commission decided to wait until its meeting on Dec. 1 to consider giving its endorsement. The Clarke County Board of Supervisors then will decide whether to grant Horus the necessary approvals, taking the commission’s stance into account.

Solar power plants — commonly known as “solar farms” — generally are large-scale operations containing equipment that turns light and heat from the sun into electricity for homes and businesses.

Such facilities have been allowed under the county’s zoning ordinance since 2010. One already has been established off Lord Fairfax Highway (U.S. 340) between White Post and Double Tollgate. Another has been proposed for historic Audley Farm off Harry Byrd Highway (Va. 7) west of Berryville, but paperwork for that project hasn’t been submitted to the county yet.

In July, the supervisors asked the county’s Planning & Zoning Department to come up with changes to the ordinance that would prohibit any more solar power farms from being established. They maintain that landowners find it hard to resist incentives offered by developers for property actually needed for agriculture and open space.

Tia Earman, a senior land-use field representative for the Piedmont Environment Council, agreed with that need.

Climate change could “alter where the nation grows its food,” Earman said during the hearing. Clarke County could be suitable, she said, to take over the production of crops grown elsewhere if conditions in those places are no longer suitable.

Berryville resident Mary Ivie recalled how development gradually took away rural areas in Prince William County, where she and her family used to live, despite efforts to preserve them.

“We moved to Berryville ... to get away from the madness,” Ivie said. “Protect the green areas. Don’t let Clarke County become like Prince William.”

County officials want to ensure the Horus project minimizes the possibility of topsoil erosion, Camp said. They also want Horus to have an “emergency action plan” for removing broken solar panels, such as ones damaged during storms, and preventing soil from being contaminated by heavy metals, he said.

Mentioning solar panels on the roof of his home, commission Chairman George Ohrstrom II asked what would happen if solar panels are damaged.

Braden Houston, managing director of project development for OPD Energy, which also is involved with the project, said if storms are anticipated in the area, automation would tilt the panels so they wouldn’t be directly exposed to hail. Still, should the panels suffer damage, either the glass or the entire panels would have to be replaced, he said.

“It’s all automated and computer-driven,” said Ty Lawson, an attorney for the developers. He estimated that someone might visit the site to check on the equipment once every two weeks.

Several of the hearing’s speakers voiced concerns about water quality.

Forrest Jones asserted that water flows north in Clarke County. Therefore, his property on Crums Church Road will be in the direct path of any potentially contaminated runoff, he said.

Westwood Road resident Charles Alton said a lot of limestone is on his property and he likes how it makes his well water taste.

If metals leach into the soil and contaminate the water, it will be “bad stewardship” of the environment, Alton said.

Marianne Casey, another Westwood Road resident, predicted it will be hard for solar panel posts to be installed in the ground because the Bellringer property is “all rock.”

The solar panels themselves will be about eight feet above the ground, Lawson said.

Horus plans to submit additional information to the county in the coming weeks. However, planning officials won’t have time to analyze it in depth before the commission’s next meeting on Nov. 3, Camp said, hence the decision to postpone consideration of the proposal until Dec. 3.

The public hearing will be continued at that meeting.