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By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - The Environmental Review Board met on February 9, 2017 in the Main Courtroom of the Pike County Courthouse. It was attended by Planning and Development Director David Allen, Chairman Ken Gran, and members Patricia Dabbs, Patricia Beckham and Charles Way.
Motion to approve the October 4, 2016 Minutes. Approved 4-0.
Mr. Kelly is representing the company tonight. This is the first of three meetings on the Solar Farm. [Note from the Editor: There were only a few people in the audience tonight. I had expected far more from some of the comments that I had seen on social media. However, there is The Board of Appeals meeting on February 16, 2017 at 7 p.m. and the final hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. before the Board of Commissioners on February 28, 2017. Each meeting will be held in the main, upstairs courtroom of the Pike County Courthouse.]
Chairman Ken Gran said that this is a fact-finding committee because they do not have final approval, but they will hear from the public and report to a higher authority.
Another solar farm was discussed in 2014. Some of the same topics will be discussed tonight. Click here to read more about the 2014 project.
Brian Kelly is here representing the company. We will not be using chemicals on the project. We will mow it. There will be gaps between the rows so they can be grown.
He explained the difference between concentrated solar projects with acres of mirrors that focus on one central tower and the type of project that they are proposing. These panels will absorb the sunlight so there will be no problem with frying birds that fly overhead.
Ken Gran asked: Are all of the panels be on the same level? He asked about earth moving and whether it will be stair stepped? Answer: A 6% grade will be allowable and this is fairly flat, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Ken said that pine pollen may be an issue. Answer: There are regular operations on the site to come through and clean off the pollen build up. They will be sprayed down with water.
Questions from citizens: What is being done with the electricity? The power will go directly onto the Georgia Power grid. This has an inverter system and set up in blocks. Series of panels that feed into an inverter to DC and inverter will make it AC and then feed the electricity to the transformer and then to the line. It will only run when the sun is up and not run at night because there are no batteries. Most utilities require power during the middle of the day.
Georgia Power is issuing RFP’s for projects like this.
Question: Will we be able to see this on Highway 18? Answer: The panels will be in the middle in the area with a 6 foot fence and barbed wire to keep out animals and people. There will be a 50 foot buffer.
It was noted that the creek has been a concern for many too. Ken said that the buffer needs to extend to the wetlands too. Answer: There are already setbacks on their map for these and they will be happy to work with the county to protect these waters.
It was noted that noise shouldn’t be a problem. The inverters are aircooled. 65 decibles is like an airconditioner on our house. No closer than 250 feet from the fence line. 30 inverters and each at 2.5 megawatts.
Patricia Beckham asked: Southern Rivers won’t benefit from this plant? Answer: All co-ops end up buying power from the three big companies including Georgia Power so Southern Rivers will be benefiting from this too. They are looking to reduce cost to consumers.
Patricia Dabbs asked about the heat that this will generate. With 300,000 panels, how much of a heat build up are we looking at? Answer: He doesn’t have an exact number but compared to a paved road or rooftop, the panels should emit very little heat. David Allen said that in an asphalt parking lot, the heat bounces off instead of being absorbed like these panels.
Charles Way asked about grading problems, pollution and run off into the creek. Answer: Everything will be mowed and no chemicals will be used. Ken Gran said that they will be required to put together an erosion plan. The real key is making sure that it is enforced. Mr. Kelly said that it is not a benefit to them to have a dirt area because it becomes an erosion problem. Currently the land use is timbered land and it hasn’t been replanted at this time so this isn’t an issue at this time.
A critical issues analysis has been conducted to identify areas of concern. A wetlands delineation will have to be approved by the Corps of Engineers.
Public Hearing:
IN FAVOR:
Mark Woodall from Woodland in Talbot County spoke favorably about solar farms. He cited one south of Woodland that has about 15 acres. There is another in Taylor County with about 900 panels that produce 131 megawatts. There are four others in the state too. He said this is providing jobs and energy for the state. This is clean energy and is good for the environment and the economy. He asked for approval on this.
AGAINST:
Bennie Evans said that we heard the first solar farm two years ago. The ordinances that we wrote are good for a 100 acre farm but this is larger than that. He asked that the size need to be considered. First, construction standards are different for this size of a farm. At some point, the facility will have to change. In case of abandonment, is the bond adequate to clean up a site this large? We have 50 foot buffers. Is that enough? What are the heights of vegetation to protect the community? He said that these are not pretty. Hiding these panels to not impact the surrounding community is important. Someone that he knows had problems with glare from the panels. We are in a groundwater recharge area. He said that the EPA and Dept of Natural Resources need to be advised and need to be advised of this to get some impact because it will have regional impact and not just local.
Anna Evans is a concerned citizen even though it’s not in her backyard. She said that they don’t have enough information on this yet to even make a decision. The visual buffer is an issue. She has solar panels on her roof and she wants to know information to tell us how much heat this will bring to Pike County and will birds be able to fly through this? She asked if this will affect the weather and suggested that they need more info. She said that glare is an issue. She said that pilots were concerned the last time as well as the lead contact and other heavy metals. Who owns this property? What happens in 10 years when the technology is obsolete and who cleans it up? Is this bond enough to clean up and reforest this area so it isn’t a tax burden? Are they getting a tax exemption? Retention ponds? Groundwater recharge is huge to her. What will this do to surrounding property values? She said that online pictures don’t show grass and she wondered if it is because of the heat and wondered if the buffer is large enough. She said that we don’t put enough value on rural. Once this is done, there is no turning back without a very large cost.
Mr. Kelly said that the panels will allow native grasses to grow and said that with the pictures on the internet, there are points in the process where plants haven’t grown and solar panels are often put in deserts.
Glenn Beckham is from Molena. He said that 50 miles east of here is a plant that generates 3200 megawatts per day. He cited info from 3 others and said that 71 megawatts is not even a drop in the bucket for Georgia Power. He asked why GA Power needs 71 megawatts? He said that we are turning 1,300 acres of prettiest acreage in the county and turning it into a big mirror. He asked whether this is of any value to the citizens of Pike County. This will generate minimal electricity compared to other sites and they don’t need the power because there is power that isn’t being used. Glenn was asked about how he knew all of these amounts and places of power. He said that he works in the industry.
Mr. Kelly responded to some of these concerns. Ken reiterated that we are looking for answers. Mr. Kelly is a development engineer. Impact studies and needed permits, etc. We will go through all of the appropriate bodies to be sure that we are not negatively impacting the land that we are building on including local, state and federal. This will bring jobs, etc. to the county. It will bring positive things to the county. We are looking for consultants on this project right now. What about maintenance? Ken said that it would be nice if Pike County residents are a part of this project long-term.
There are no hazardous materials. The panels are made of silicon. If it breaks, it is insoluble and will do nothing until they are picked up. The inverters are air cooled by a fan. There are no chemicals.
Abandonment. We are leasing the land from the landowner. It is in the lease agreement for 90 or 180 days to completely remove the project. We are legally bound. It is not in our interest to abandon a project.
He is going to research the questions on heat. These systems are built all over the country. Any project of this size has to be filed with the FAA. Ken said that we have a large aviation community here and this might impact our community. We are going to contact the FAA and confirm through the state as we go through the permit process.
What is the anchoring system? What does the design look like? They will remove everything when the project is done? Answers: We will return it to its original use just like it is now. These are thin I-beams that will have no impact on water flow. No concrete involved. Like a fencepost. No concrete footings.
An RFP was issued for this by Georgia Power. It was noted that coal fired plants are shutting down across the state and going with other types of plants. Solar is temporary and drop in the bucket but this may be the future.
David Allen is going to put together meeting minutes and then they are going to meet with him and put together what they want to pass on to the Planning Board.
Meeting was adjourned at 6:58 p.m. [Note from the Editor: The original article is located below this article.]
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By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - Madden Solar Center, LLC (Ryan Gilchrist) is going to present a proposal for a solar farm on the behalf of USC Timber Holdings, LLC before the Environmental Review Board on Thursday, February 9 in the main courtroom of the Pike County Courthouse. This proposal is for a property located at Georgia Hwy 18 West / Nixon Road / North Madden Bridge Road.
The Agricultural-Residential (A-R) property must be presented in a public hearing before the Environmental Review Committee before it is presented to the Board of Appeals and finally to the Board of Commissioners for final approval. The Environmental Review Committee (ERC) hearing will be held on Thursday, February 9, 2017 at 6 p.m. in the main, upstairs courtroom of the Pike County Courthouse.
The proposed solar farm "will mainly be located on the Ga. Hwy. 18 side of the specified tract (approximately 600 acres at the road), and not the portion of the property fronting Nixon Road and the portion fronting North Madden Bridge Road." The applicant has specified that the proposed solar farm will have a peak power output of 74.9 megawatts and consist of approximately 304,000 solar panels.
For a comparison, the Silcion Ranch solar farm in Social Circle, which was "recognized as the largest solar farm east of the Mississippi River at the time of its commissioning," only puts out 38.6 megawatts. Click here to read more from the Silicon Ranch website.
Planning and Zoning Staff have reviewed the application as well as Pike County Code of Ordinance on this proposal. Immediate concerns are the streams and possible wetlands flowing into Elkins Creek as well as the possibility of excessive noise, dust, odor, smoke, vibration, or similar concerns as well as unhealthful pollution, dangers to ground water and related issues, the use of public funds, and examination of the impact on natural resources was considered.
This is a copy of the Planning and Development's recommendation on this project that can be read in depth by clicking here. [Note from the Editor: Thank you to the County Manager for pointing me in the right direction this and to Planning and Development Director David Allen for getting this info to me so quickly. It has not always been easy to access Open Records Information in Pike County so I feel the need to express my thanks at open government here now.]
Here is a list of the upcoming public hearings on this solar panel proposal. Each of these meeting is for a public hearing so those who have concerns, those who support this proposal, and those who have questions need to be present at a meeting in order to speak. The Board of Commissioners meeting will be limited to twenty minutes for those against and a separate twenty minutes for those who are in support of it so I do not recommend waiting until the final meeting because you may not get to speak.
However, the Pike County Board of Commissioners can be reached in many ways including speaking to individual commissioners by phone, you can drop a letter by the Commission Office located at 79 Jackson Street in Zebulon, you can fill out a response form at http://www.pikecoga.com/contact or use the contact by email link on that same page to send an email to County Clerk Jo Ann Wrye. You can call the office at 770-567-3406 for further contact information as well. [Note from the Editor: Take advice from a citizen activist turned newspaper reporter who has been involved in county politics for twenty years and BE NICE when you call and speak to anyone about this or when you speak at a meeting. You can get your point across without ugly and people will pay more attention to what you have to say if you show your concern one way or the other and are not obnoxious.]
The Environmental Review Board meeting is at 6 p.m. on Thursday, February 9. The Board of Appeals meeting is at 7 p.m. on February 16. And the Board of Commissioner's meeting, which will be the final decision on this project, will be held at 6:30 p.m. on February 28. Each meeting will be held in the main, upstairs courtroom of the Pike County Courthouse.
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If you want to find out about how you can get Breaking News Alerts, click here. Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!