Yadkin County Board of Adjustment members Richard Foster, Scott Pipes and Charles Collins at a March meeting of the board during which a new solar farm project in Yadkin County is approved.
Plans for a new solar farm in Yadkin County will be moving forward after a judge ruled that the Yadkin County Board of Adjustment must approve a conditional use permit.
Chairman Richard Foster noted that it was a “very direct order from Superior Court” and there was no margin for any other decision from the board.
“I looked every way I could look,” Foster said. Following the motion and vote to approve the conditional use permit, he added that “two out-of-town lawyers and a judge” made the decision.
The conditional use permit is for a 22-megawatt 285-acre solar farm on parcels of land on Shady Grove Church Road in the Smithtown community totaling around 370.5 acres applied for by Two Hearted Solar, LLC, Mickey and Hilda Smitherman, Shady Grove Partners LLC, Evan and Tina Williams, Jackie and Betsy Williams, Ruth Matthews and Billy Miller.
Applicants for the solar farm challenged the denial in an appeal to the Yadkin County Superior Court. A writ of certiorari was filed on Nov. 6, 2020 the writ is a request for a lower court to deliver its record in a case so that the higher court may review it.
At a Sept. 14, 2020 hearing multiple individuals representing various aspects of the proposed solar farm presented evidence on the design and details of the project, including detailed information on the safety of a solar farm and mitigation efforts to minimize the impact to neighboring properties. Neighbors opposed to the project spoke at a hearing on Oct. 12, 2020. Both public hearings were evidentiary hearings with those speaking for or against the project sworn in as in a court of law.
Court documents filed challenging the decision read in part, “The Applicant presented five highly credentialed experts and other witnesses who provided substantial testimony on all four standards in the form of engineering calculations, appraisals, scientific papers written by one of the experts, and detailed testimony and expert analysis about applicable provisions in the county’s comprehensive plan. Despite this testimony, the Board failed to find that any of the evidence was competent, material, or substantial…”
Testimony from Dr. Brian Fannon with the Yadkin Riverkeeper organization as well as Danielle Summerfield, a neighbor to the property and former realtor were among those cited in the decision against the project. Runoff water, real estate values and lack of clarity with the submitted proposal were among the concerns the board said contributed to the denial of the conditional use permit.
A statement from the Board of Adjustments following the denial said in part, “there are potential multiple runoff issues and there needs to be more detail in the plans moving into these areas that have a lot more terrain variability to make sure that projects that take up several hundred acres in rolling terrain move forward responsibly to avoid damaging water that we rely on.”
The writ filed by the solar farm applicants, alleges that testimony from opponents of the project did not meet the criteria of evidence per the guidelines of the hearing.
“Opponents produced no expert testimony, no studies, and no evidence that directly addressed three of the four standards. The Board based its findings on opponents’ testimony that was in all respects, (a) immaterial, addressing matters unrelated to the four standards; (b) incompetent as a matter of law (a lay witness testifying about property values); (c) opinion testimony unsupported by facts or studies; (d) a type of testimony described in numerous N.C. cases as ‘generalized fears’ and therefore not evidence; or (e) testimony that was directly contradicted by county’s zoning ordinance and Land Use Plan,” reads a portion of the court documents challenging the denial.
The Board of Adjustments did ask that restrictions similar to those at another recent solar farm project on Country Club Road be added to the Shady Grove project, including a $50,000 bond towards future decommissioning of the site and 20 feet of planted vegetation for screening, including one row of trees that would be at least 25-feet tall at maturity. Both items had previously been discussed and agreed upon by the applicants.
Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2021 on the Shady Grove project with a goal of having it online by the summer of 2022, said a communications and marketing representative with Pine Gate Renewables which is associated with the project.
Kitsey Burns Harrison may be reached at 336-258-4035 or on Twitter and Instagram @RippleReporterK.