Stafford allows solar project to submit new application - Fredericksburg.com

Stafford allows solar project to submit new application

Last fall, the Stafford County Board of Supervisors denied a permit that would have allowed a solar power facility at Enon and Truslow roads, near the new Musselman Park.

According to county code, when the board takes such action — and does not issue a conditional use permit — the applicant has to wait a year to file again.

On Tuesday, supervisors decided to waive that process and allow Enon Road Solar Farm LLC to take another crack at its application. The board was told by Mike Zuraf, acting assistant director of planning and zoning, that the applicant is prepared to make modifications to the initial request based on the concerns of nearby residents and county officials.

He said a new application could be filed within a few weeks.

Even though the Enon Road project got a second chance at approval earlier than normally allowed, there are still steps that must be followed.

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“Any new application would be required to go back through the full process with a public hearing with the Planning Commission and then back to the Board (of Supervisors),” Zuraf said.

The proposal for an Enon Road Solar Farm is the second for Stafford, and the second in a similar proximity. In September, the supervisors approved a community solar facility on the north side of Truslow Road, between Virginia Avenue and Locust Street.

Kinglet Solar of Santa Monica, California, said solar panels on the 5 megawatt site will send electricity into the power grid operated by Dominion and eventually bring power to 660 shared solar subscribers as part of the utility’s shared solar program.

As part of the program, low-to-moderate income customers can buy a subscription in a shared solar facility and receive a bill credit for the “proportional output of the solar facility attributable to that subscriber,” according to Dominion’s website.

Justin Vandenbroeck of esaSolar, which submitted the initial application for the Enon Road Solar Farm, said his company also wanted to participate in Dominion’s shared solar program. He also said the Enon road project would benefit about the same number of customers.

In October, Supervisor Crystal Vanuch said there were “several key differences” between the solar plan the board accepted the month before and the Enon Road plan. She said the Enon Road project was planned next to Musselman Park, which was intended to be an integral part of the rural residential character of the area.

Supervisor Darrell English said he was aware of concerns of his constituents, and that he wouldn’t want to see a solar facility on the site, if he lived there. Like Vanuch, he said the location was not ideal, and English added that nearby landowners said the company “had repeatedly harassed” them by suggesting it could build a pig farm if the request for a solar facility wasn’t approved.

However, Supervisor Monica Gary said she had talked with residents who could benefit from savings on their energy bill. They told her the company had made “every effort” to engage the community “in the best interest of completing the project successfully.”

In the end, Gary abstained from the vote, which was 4-2 against the project.

Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425