Mecklenburg planners give thumbs down to Antlers Road Solar project
The proposed 90-megawatt Antlers Road Solar project ran into a firm “no” from the Mecklenburg County Planning Commission on Thursday as planners rejected the developer’s slimmed-down plans for a second time.
RWE Renewables Americas, LLC previously sought the county’s approval for the Boydton-area solar energy generation project in 2022. At that time, the planning commission determined that Antlers Road Solar was not in compliance with the county’s comprehensive plan, a first step before the project can move forward. The planners’ unanimous vote was later upheld by the Board of Supervisors.
Since then, the company has gone back to the drawing board and reduced the project footprint, said RWE Clean Energy Project Manager Natalie Gerber, speaking at a public hearing of the planning commission Thursday night in Boydton.
REW has increased the property setbacks from the project’s neighbors and from Mines Creek, a tributary of Allen’s Creek that eventually empties into Lake Gaston. And whereas the original project design would have consumed some 490 acres of prime farmland, the revised version of Antlers Creek Solar takes up only 220 acres, Gerber said.
Earlier this month, the Board of Supervisors tightened the county’s solar ordinance to ban all new utility-scale generation facilities in Mecklenburg County. At the same time, however, supervisors allowed three large projects already in the permitting pipeline — Antlers Road Solar and two others — to continue through the process that could lead to the issuance of a special exception permit. One of the projects, Longroad Energy’s 7 Bridges solar facility in the Chase City area, recently gained the planning commission’s backing for a special exception permit by a 7-5 vote.
The final say-so on solar permits belongs to the Board of Supervisors, which could take up the Antlers Road Solar project in May at the earliest.
At Thursday’s public hearing, Gerber asked planners to evaluate Antlers Road Solar under the county’s less restrictive solar ordinance that was in place in 2022, when RWE first broached the project. Antlers Road should be grandfathered in as a matter of equity, she argued. “RWE asks simply to be treated fairly.”
But the planning commission voted 11-1 against RWE, with the lone dissenting vote cast by Jarrious Lassiter. Commission chairman Kyle Crump, explaining the reasoning behind the rejection, said Antlers Road Solar was not in compliance with the county comp plan because it would destroy prime farmland and threaten the nearby watershed.
“One goal of the rural conservation district is protect areas of the highest conservation value, especially those adjacent to the county’s lakes, rivers and streams,” said Crump. By contrast, he said, Antlers Road Solar “does not align with the county’s comprehensive plan and the established goal to protect and restore forested areas, wildlife habitat and drinking water resources.”
Before the vote by planners, Gerber and about a dozen other speakers weighed in on the project’s pros and cons — with Gerber emphasizing the project’s economic benefits to the county, and opponents decrying the impact that solar developments have on their rural way of life.
“We want to continue to be known as Lake Country, not solar country,” said retired county clerk of court Gene Coleman of Boydton, one of nine persons to speak against RWE’s plans.
Gerber, running point-by-point through a slide presentation, noted that RWE has altered the original conception of the project after incorporating feedback from neighbors. The setback distance from Mines Creek, originally 100 feet, has been extended to 300 feet, and the minimum distance from Antlers Road is now 200 feet, compared to the original 150-foot setback. The thickness of vegetative buffering along Antlers Road has been doubled from 100 feet to 200 feet, she said.
By leasing the land, RWE can quickly return it to its natural state at the end of the project’s lifespan some 40 years from now, Gerber said. More than half of the roughly 1,000 acres under lease will be placed in a conservation easement, and of the remaining 490 acres dedicated to the project, 330 acres will be under panel.
The prime farmland impact has been reduced by more than half under the revised plan, from 490 acres to 220 acres, Gerber added. The company also intends to sign a decommissioning agreement to ensure the land would be returned its natural state once the solar facility is no longer in operation.
In terms of benefits to the county and its residents, Gerber said RWE will offer neighboring residents a monthly $50 credit on their energy bills — a boost to pocketbooks that would last for five years, she added. Meantime, the project will generate an estimated $8.9 million in direct revenue for Mecklenburg County’s treasury, create $3.5 million in local wages and benefits through the hiring of hundreds of workers during the construction phase and a handful of full-time permanent employees, and stimulate the local economy and generate spending with local businesses.
“There are lots of ways we can partner with the county and the community,” Gerber said.
Two citizens spoke up in favor of Antlers Road Solar. Laurie Huber of Boydton, who declared herself “unapologetically pro-solar,” urged planners not to lump in RWE Clean Energy with other solar energy developers in the county whose projects “have left a lot to be desired,” as she put it. “Please don’t shut the door” to solar power in Mecklenburg County, Huber added. “You’ve got to get the energy from somewhere.”
Also speaking on RWE’s behalf was Ryan Romack of Scottsburg, who as president of AgriSolar Ranch has an agreement with the developers to graze sheep at the solar site. Romack said timber and solar are two of the only viable sources of income for agriculture landowners in the county, and solar has much less impact on land than timber cutting.
“Timber harvesting breaks my heart,” said Romack, who acknowledged that as a rancher and farmer, he has benefited from “the necessary evil” of cleared forests.
At the Antlers Road site, Romack said he’ll be able to tend up to 850 sheep his under contract with RWE. “From a rancher’s perspective, solar is a no-brainer.”
Other speakers, however, were not persuaded by arguments extolling the project. Dave Whilden, a 41-year resident of Antlers Road, said he feared the environmental impact of solar farms and data centers. “Between Microsoft and data centers, where’s the wildlife going?” he asked.
“I’m 80 years old. If I could, I’d move out of Mecklenburg County right now, but I can’t,” he said.
Betty Upton added that “no one wants a solar farm in their backyard” and when projects do materialize, “the land is never usable again.”
Robert Van Dyke, who lives on nearby Allen’s Road, pointed out that RWE’s plans include the construction of a switchyard and substation to connect the solar array to a nearby 15 kilovolt electric transmission line.
The substation will be located in his backyard and disturb the “serene peace” that Van Dyke said he has enjoyed at his property, and he asked planners to “keep it like it was.”
Coleman faulted RWE for suing the county after the Board of Supervisors rejected the solar project in 2022. In the lawsuit, the company accused county officials from deviating from the objectives of the comprehensive plan, then cited as the basis for denying Antlers Road Solar. “It’s obvious the applicant has no respect for your prior decision,” said Coleman.
Following the fresh denial by the planning commission on Thursday, Gerber declined to comment on what steps, if any, RWE Renewables may take ahead of possible action by the Board of Supervisors.
In addition to the speakers who turned out for Thursday’s public hearing, Zoning Administrator Robert Hendrick said his office received 42 letters weighing in on the merits of Antlers Road Solar — 41 letters in support, and one written in opposition. Twenty letters of support bore a South Hill address, nine were from Clarksville, and 13 from Chase City. The lone letter opposition had a Boydton address, said Hendrick.